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Cljf  d^ltminator; 


OK, 


SKELETON  KEYS 


SACERDOTAL  SECRETS. 

BY 

RICHAKD  B.  WESTBROOK,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

autiiok  of 

"The  Bible— Whenck  and  What?"  "  Man— Whence  and  Whither?" 
"Girard's  Will  and  Girard  College  Theology,"  etc.  etc. 


Write  me  no  more  fables,  lest  I  be  a  fool  and  read 
the  riddles  awry. 


PRINTED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR 

By  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY, 

PHILADELPHIA. 

1894. 


Copyright,  1892,  by  RICHARD  BRODHEAD  WESTBROOK. 


Bi 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


The  Eliaiinator  has  now  been  before  the  public 
nearly  two  years.  I  have  seen  nothing  worthy  of  the 
name  of  criticism  respecting  it.  A  few  Unitarian 
ministers  have  said  that  Christ  must  have  been  a  per- 
son instead  of  a  personification,  for  the  reason  that  men 
could  not  have  conceived  of  such  a  perfect  character 
without  a  living  example,  and  that  the  great  influence 
exercised  by  him  for  so  long  a  time,  over  so  many 
people,  proves  him  to  have  been  an  historic  character. 
These  arguments  are  anticipated  and  fully  answered. 
(See  pp.  283,  284,  306.) 

Our  Unitarian  friends  are  the  greatest  idealists  upon 
the  globe  !  They  only  ac(^ept  the  Gospel  biography  of 
Jesus  (and  we  have  no  other)  just  so  far  as  the  story 
accords  with  what  they  think  it  ought  to  be.  They 
deny  the  immaculate  conception  and  miraculous  birth 
of  the  Christ,  and  have  very  great  doubts  about  his 
crucifixion  and  resurrection.  Their  Christ  is  purely 
ideal.  The  fact  is  that  Christendom  has  worshipped 
the  literal  Jesus  for  the  ideal  Christ  for  nearly  twenty 
centuries,  though  their  conceptions  of  him  have  been 
manifold  and  contradictory.  No  wonder  that  so  many 
intelligent   Christian  sects   in  the  early  ages  of  the 


IV  PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 

church  utterly  denied  the  existence  of  Jesus  as  an  his- 
tm-ic  person.  (See  pp.  266,  267,  357.)  But  there  is 
indubitable  evidence  that  this  Christ  character  (called 
by  many  Unitarians  the  "  Universal  Christ")  was 
mainly  mythical,  drawn  from  the  astrological  riddles  of 
the  older  Pagan  mythologies. 

In  fact,  almost  everything  in  Christianity  seems  to 
have  been  an  afterthought.  It  is  the  least  original  of 
any  of  the  ten  great  religions  of  the  world,  and  the 
great  mistake  has  been  in  making  almost  everything 
literal  which  the  wise  men  of  ancient  times  regarded 
as  allegorical.  This  comes  from  the  priestly  attempt 
to  identify  the  Jeioish  Jesus  with  the  Oriental  Christ. 
Tradition  is,  in  fact,  the  main  foundation  of  the  Chris- 
tian scheme,  and  cunning  sacerdotalists  have  done  by 
artifice  what  history,  in  fact,  has  failed  to  do.  But  for 
its  moral  precepts  and  its  "enthusiasm  of  humanity," 
Christianity  would  not  survive  for  a  single  century. 
The  so-called  "Apostles'  Creed". (which  was  not  for- 
mulated until  centuries  after  the  last  Apostle  slept  in 
the  grave),  and  which  is  repeated  in  so  many  churches 
every  Sunday,  has  a  greater  number  of  historical  and 
theological  misstatements  than  any  other  writing  of 
the  same  length  now  extant ! 

There  is  in  our  day  a  general  disposition  to  magnify 
the  virtues  of  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testment,  con- 
nected with  a  proposition  to  unite  all  Christians  in 
his  leadership.  This  device  will  not  succeed,  because 
it  is  as  impossible  to  found  a  perfect  religion  upon  an 
imperfect  man  as  it  is  upon  a  fallible  Book.     Lovers 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION.  V 

of  the  truth  will  show  that  the  traditional  Christ  is  not 
a  perfect  model.  (See  Chapter  xiii.)  There  is  a  most 
significant  sense  in  which  it  may  be  truthfully  said : 
"  Never  man  spake  like  this  man,"  as  no  great  moral 
teacher  ever  uttered  so  many  things  that  needed  to  be 
revised  and  explained ! 

May  it  not  be  the  fact  that  both  Catholic  and  Prot- 
estant Christians  are  under  a  great  delusion  as  to  the 
facts  of  religion  ?  I  think  so.  I  believe  so.  I  well 
know  how  difficult  it  is  to  explode  a  delusion  that  is 
nearly  twenty  centuries  old,  and  that  is  supported  by 
a  sacerdotalism  of  vast  wealth  and  learning,  and  whose 
votaries  by  "  this  craft  have  their  wealth." 

I  nail  these  Theses  to  the  church  doors  of  all  the 
Catholics  and  Protestants  in  Christendom,  and  with 
Martin  Luther,  at  the  Diet  of  Worms,  I  exclaim, 
"  Here  I  stand.  I  cannot  move !  God  help  me !" 
If  I  am  mistaken,  then  my  reason  is  at  fault  and  all 
history  is  a  lie  !  It  is  said  that  when  Renan  died,  the 
Pope  inquired  whether  he  had  confessed  before  his  de- 
cease, and  upon  being  told  that  he  had  not,  replied, 
"  Well,  then  God  will  have  to  save  him  for  his  sin- 
cerity !"  I  am  ready  to  be  judged  on  this  ground.  I 
sum  up  my  latest  conclusions  thus :  The  Jesus  of  the 
Gospels  is  traditional,  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  mythical. 

R.  B.  WESTBROOK. 

1707  Oxford  Street, 
Philadelphia. 

October  1,  1894. 


PKEFACE. 


Many  things  in  this  book  will  greatly  shock,  and 
even  give  heartfelt  pain  to,  numerous  persons  whom  I 
greatly  respect.  I  have  a  large  share  of  the  love  of 
approbation,  and  naturally  desire  the  good  opinion  of 
those  with  whom  I  have  been  associated  in  a  long  life. 
There  is  no  pleasure  in  the  fact  that  I  have  to  stand 
quite  alone  in  the  eyes  of  nearly  all  Christendom. 
There  is  no  satisfaction  in  being  deemed  a  disturber 
of  the  peace  of  the  great  majority  of  those  "  professing 
and  calling  themselves  Christians."  But,  at  the  same 
time,  I  must  not  be  indifferent  in  matters  where  I  be- 
lieve truth  is  concerned. 

Before  I  withdrew  from  the  orthodox  ministry  I  used 
to  wonder  why  God  in  his  gracious  providence  had  not 
seen  fit  to  so  order  events  as  to  give  us  a  credible  and 
undoubted  history  of  the  incarnation  and  birth  of  his 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  why  that  Saviour,  who  had  come 
to  repair  the  great  evils  inflicted  upon  our  race  by 
Adam,  had  never  once  mentioned  that  unfortunate  fall. 

I  do  not  deny  that  there  was  a  person  named  Jesus 
nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  ago.  I  think  there  were 
seveml  persons  bearing  this  name  and  who  were  con- 
temporaneous, and  that  sevei-al  of  tliem  were  very  good 

3 


4  PREFACE. 

men  ;  but  that  any  one  of  them  was  such  a  person  as  is 
described  in  the  Gospels  I  cannot  believe.  I  lay  special 
emphasis  on  the  word  such.  Admitting  for  the  sake 
of  the  argument  the  real,  historical  personality  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  he  has  by  the  process  of  idealization  become 
an  impersonation,  and  I  have  so  attempted  to  make  it 
appear ;  and  I  cannot  but  think  that  this  view  is  not 
inconsistent  with  the  most  enlightened  piety  and  re- 
ligious devotion,  while  this  explanation  relieves  us  of 
many  things  which  are  absurd  and  contradictory. 

I  desire  to  explain  more  fully  than  appears  in  the 
Table  of  Contents  the  plan  of  this  book.  I  first  com- 
bat the  policy  of  suppression  and  deception,  and  insist 
that  the  whole  truth  shall  be  published,  and  have 
shown  that  sacerdotalism  is  responsible  for  the  fact 
that  it  has  not  been  done.  As  so-called  Christianity 
is  based  upon  Judaism,  I  undertake  to  show  the  fab- 
ulous character  of  many  of  the  claims  of  the  Jews, 
disclaiming  all  intention  to  asperse  the  character  of 
Israelites  of  the  present  generation. 

I  thought  it  proper  in  this  connection  to  give  the 
substance  of  an  open  letter  to  the  Chief-Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  on  Moses  and  the 
Pentateuch — to  which  His  Honor  never  responded — 
showing  that  the  "  law  of  Sinai  was  not  the  first  of 
which  we  have  any  knowledge,"  and  that  Moses  was 
not  'Hhe  greatest  statesman  and  lawgiver  the  world 
had  ever  produced,"  as  the  Chief-Justice  had  affirmed 
in  a  lecture  before  the  Law  School  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania. 


PREFACE.  5 

Presenting  brief  views  of  the  symbolic  character  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  showing  how  "  Astral  Keys  " 
unlock  many  Bible  stories,  I  undertake  to  show  that 
the  so-called  fall  of  Adam  is  a  fable,  nothing  more ; 
and  then,  as  the  first  Adam  is  shown  to  be  a  myth,  I 
go  in  search  for  the  "  last  Adam.''  Finding  no  know- 
ledge of  such  a  person  except  in  the  New  Testament, 
I  deem  it  necessary  to  briefly  show  the  character  of 
this  book,  that  it  may  be  determined  how  far  it  should 
be  received  as  evidence  in  a  matter  of  so  much  import- 
ance. Then  in  five  chapters,  more  or  less  connected, 
I  combat  the  idea  of  the  historical,  or  rather  tradi- 
tional, Jesus,  and  follow  with  an  examination  of  the 
evangelical  dogma  of  Blood-Salvation,  and  close  with 
a  very  brief  summary  of  the  Things  thai  Remain  as 
the  foundation  of  faith. 

I  do  not  expect  ca^te  clergymen  to  read  this  book 
any  farther  than  is  necessary  to  denounce  it.  It  is 
their  way  of  meeting  questions  like  those  herein  dis- 
cussed. I  am  prepared  to  have  certain  dilettanti  sneer- 
ingly  say,  "  This  book  is  of  no  critical  value."  They 
are  so  accustomed  to  "  scholarly  essays "  which  "  are 
poetically  sentimental  and  floridly  vague"  that  they 
have  little  respect  for  anything  else.  The  book  is 
intended  for  the  common  people,  and  not  for  the 
professional  critics. 

I  do  not  expect  everybody  to  agree  with  me,  espe- 
cially at  first.  Truth  can  afibrd  to  wait,  and  in  years 
to  come  many  points  that  I  have  made,  which  are  now 
so  startling,  will  be  calmly  and  intelligently  accepted. 


6  PREFACE. 

There  are  probably  mistakes  in  the  book — mistakes  in 
names,  in  dates,  and  perhaps  in  facts ;  but  these  will 
not  affect  the  main  argument.  No  man  knows  every- 
thing. Until  recently  it  was  never  suspected  by  the 
learned  world  that  The  Contemplative  Life  was  not 
written  by  Philo  nearly  nineteen  centuries  ago,  instead 
of  being  written  by  a  monk  in  the  third  century  of  the 
Christian  era.  Even  Macaulay  and  Bancroft  have 
made  mistakes,  and  so  have  many  other  authors  of 
good  repute. 

I  have  always  tried  to  preserve  a  reverent  spirit — a 
genuine  respect  for  true  religion  and  morality.  I  have 
always  been  profoundly  religious,  and  cannot  remember 
the  time  when  I  was  not  devout.  But  I  do  not  believe 
that  it  is  ever  proper  "  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come." 
In  this  work  I  have  sought  only  the  truth,  in  the  firm 
conviction  that  superstition  and  falsehood  cannot  pro- 
mote a  course  of  tight  living,  which  is  the  object  and 
aim  of  all  true  religion. 

I  have  a  supreme  disregard  for  literary  fame.  I 
do  not  shrink  from  being  called  a  compiler  or  even 
a  plagiarist.  There  is  absolutely  very  little  of  real 
originality  in  the  world.  I  could  have  followed  the 
course  of  many  writers  and  absorbed  or  assimilated, 
and  thus  seemingly  made  my  own  what  they  had 
written ;  but  I  have  chosen  to  quote  freely,  and  so 
have  substantially  given  the  words  of  many  authors  of 
repute,  and  at  the  same  time  saved  myself  the  labor  of 
a  re-coining,  which  does  not,  after  all,  deceive  the 
intelligent  reader.     The  books  from  which  I  largely 


PREFACE.  7 

quote  are  mainly  voluminous  and  very  expensive,  and 
some  of  them  are  out  of  print.  I  am  indebted  to  the 
learned  foot-notes  of  Evan  Powell  Meredith  in  his  prize 
essay  on  The  Prophet  of  Nazareth  for  several  things, 
and  must  not  fail  to  acknowledge  my  obligations  to 
certain  living  authors  for  valuable  assistance,  and 
especially  to  my  friend  Dr.  Alexander  Wilder,  who 
prepared  at  my  request  the  substance  of  Chapter  X., 
The  Drama  of  the  Gospels,  and  who,  in  my  judgment, 
has  few  superiors  in  classical  and  Oriental  literature. 

I  sympathize  with  those  persons  who  will  complain- 
ingly  exclaim,  "You  have  taken  away  my  Saviour, 
and  I  know  not  where  you  have  laid  him."  But  sup- 
pose that  we  do  not  need  a  Saviour  in  the  evangelical 
sense  ?  Suppose  that  man  has  not  fallen,  but  that  the 
race  has  been  rising  these  many  centuries;  and  that 
while  we  have  mainly  to  save  ourselves,  all  the  good 
and  great  men  of  all  ages  have  aided  us  in  the  work  of 
salvation  by  what  they  have  said  and  done  and  suffered, 
so  that  instead  of  one  savior  we  really  have  had  many 
saviors.  I  think  that  this  view  is  more  reasonable 
and  consoling  than  the  commercial  device  of  what 
is  called  the  "  scheme  of  redemption,"  besides  having 
scientific  facts  to  sustain  it. 

I  have  preserved  on  the  title-page  some  of  my 
college  degrees,  to  indicate  my  professional  studies  of 
theology  and  law,  and  not  from  motives  of  pedantry. 

E.  B.  WESTBROOK. 
1707  Oxford  Steeet, 
Philadelphia. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEB  PAGE 

I.    The  Whole  Truth 9 

II.    Saceedotalism  Impeached 26 

III.  The  Fabulous  Claims  of  Judaism 51 

IV.  Moses  and  the  Pentateuch 95 

V.  Ancient  Symbolism  and  Modern  Literalism  .  122 

VI.    Astral  Keys  to  Bible  Stories 146 

VII.    The  Fable  of  the  Fall 165 

VIII.    Search  for  the  "Last  Adam" 190 

IX.  What  is  Known  of  the  New  Testament  .   .   .  209 

X.    The  Drama  of  the  Gospels 227 

XI.    The  Ideal  Christ 285 

XII.    Jesus  and  Other  Christs 307 

XIII.  A  Eeverent  Critique  on  Jesus 327 

XIV.  A  Few  Fragments 355 

XV.    Blood-Salvation 377 

XVI.    The  Things  that  Eemain 414 

8 


SKELETON  KEYS 


TO 


SACERDOTAL  SECRETS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   WHOLE   TRUTH. 

"  For  there  is  nothing  covered  that  shall  not  be  revealed,  neither 
hid  that  shall  not  be  known.  Therefore,  whatsoever  ye  have  spoken 
in  darkness,  shall  be  heard  in  the  light,  and  that  which  ye  have 
spoken  in  the  ear,  in  closets,  shall  be  proclaimed  upon  the  house- 
tops."—Luke  12 :  2,  3. 

The  assumption  is  general  that  if  the  faith  of  the 
common  people  should  be  unsettled  as  to  some  things 
which  they  have  heretofore  been  taught  regarding  re- 
ligion, they  would  immediately  reject  all  truth,  and 
fall  into  a  most  deplorable  state  of  skepticism  and  in- 
fidelity, and  that  the  existing  institutions  of  religion 
would  be  destroyed,  and  public  virtue  so  undermined 
as  to  endanger  the  very  foundations  of  morality  and 
civil  government.  This  is  not  only  the  fear  of  con- 
servative and  timid  clergymen,  but  many  of  our  prom- 
inent statesmen  seem  anxious  lest  the  enlightenment 
of  the  people  in  matters  in  which  they  have  been 
cruelly  deceived  should  so  weaken  the  restraints  of 
police  and  governmental  authority  as  to  result  in  uni- 

9 


10  SKELETON  KEYS. 

versal  anarchy  and  a  general  disregard  of  the  rights 
of  property,  and  even  of  the  sacredness  of  human  life. 

These  foolish  fears  show  a  great  want  of  confidence 
in  human  nature,  and  falsely  assume  that  moral  cha- 
racter depends  mainly  upon  an  unquestioning  faith  in 
certain  dogmas  which,  in  point  of  fact,  have  no  neces- 
sary connection  with  it. 

The  statistics  of  crime  show  that  a  very  large  major- 
ity of  those  who  have  been  seized  by  the  strong  arm 
of  the  law  as  dangerous  members  of  society  are  those 
who  most  heartily  believe  in  those  very  dogmas  of 
theology  which  we  are  warned  not  to  criticise,  though 
we  may  know  them  to  be  accretions  of  ignorance  and 
superstition,  and  that  some  of  them  have  a  natural 
tendency  to  fetter  the  essential  principles  of  true  re- 
ligion and  that  higher  code  of  morality  which  alone 
can  stand  strong  under  all  circumstances.  It  is  safe 
to  affirm  that  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the  criminal 
class  believe,  or  profess  to  believe,  in  the  dogmas  of 
the  dominant  theology,  Romish  and  Protestant ;  which 
are  essentially  the  same. 

It  is  too  often  forgotten  that  the  Tery  first  condition 
of  good  government  is  faith  in  human  nature,  con- 
fidence in  the  people.  You  always  excite  dishonor  and 
dishonesty  by  treating  men  as  if  you  think  them  all 
rogues,  and  as  if  you  expect  nothing  good  from  them, 
but  every  conceivable  evil,  only  as  they  may  be  re- 
strained by  the  fear  of  pains  and  penalties  in  this  life 
and  after  death. 


THE  WHOLE  TRUTH.  11 

One  great  fundamental  mistake  of  theologians  and 
dogmatic  pietists  is  the  baseless  assumption  that  relig- 
ion is  something  supernatural,  not  to  say  anti-natural ; 
something  external  to  human  nature  and  of  foreign 
origin  ;  something  to  be  received  by  transfusion  as  the 
result  or  consequence  of  faith  in  certain  dogmas  or  the 
observance  of  external  rites ;  something  bottled  up  by 
the  Church,  like  rare  and  precious  medicines  in  an 
apothecary-shop,  to  be  dealt  out  to  those  who  are  will- 
ing to  follow  priestly  prescriptions  and  pay  tlie  re- 
quired price. 

The  fact  is,  churches  and  scriptures  and  dogmas 
are  the  outcome  of  that  religious  element  which  is  in- 
herent  in  human  nature.  It  cannot  be  too  often  or  too 
strongly  urged  that  the  religious  principle  is  innate  and 
ineradicable  in  mankind,  and  that  you  might  as  well 
try  to  destroy  man's  love  of  the  beautiful,  his  desire 
for  knowledge,  his  love  of  home  and  kindred,  or  even 
his  appetite  for  food,  as  to  try  to  destroy  it.  It  is  as 
natural  to  feel  the  want  of  religion  as  it  is  to  be  hun- 
gry. You  cannot  destroy  the  foundations  of  religion. 
They  rest  in  nature  and  antedate  all  creeds  and  churches, 
and  will  survive  them. 

Even  Professor  Tyndall  says  :  "  The  facts  of  relig- 
ious feeling  are  to  me  as  certain  as  the  facts  of  physics." 
..."  The  world  will  have  religion  of  some  kind.".  .  . 
"  You  who  have  escaped  from  these  religions  into  the 
high  and  dry  light  of  intellect  may  deride  them,  but  in 
doing  so  you  deride  accidents  of  form  merely,  and  fail 
to  touch  the  immovable  basis  of  the  religious  sentiment 


12  SKELETON  KEYS. 

in  the  nature  of  man.  To  yield  this  sentiment  reason- 
able satisfaction  is  the  problem  of  problems  at  this 
hour." 

Renan  also  writes  thus :  "  All  the  symbols  which 
serve  to  give  shape  to  the  religious  sentiment  are  im- 
perfect, and  their  fate  is  to  be  one  after  another  rejected. 
But  nothing  is  more  rem.ote  from  the  truth  than  the 
dream  of  those  who  seek  to  imagine  a  perfected  human- 
ity without  religion."  ..."  Devotion  is  as  natural  as 
egoism  to  a  true-born  man.  The  organization  of  de- 
votion is  religion.  Let  no  one  hope,  therefore,  to  dis- 
pense with  religion  or  religious  associations.  Each 
progression  of  modern  society  will  render  this  want 
more  imperious." 

We  use  the  word  religion  as  it  was  used  by  Cicero, 
in  the  sense  of  scruple,  implying  the  consciousness  of  a 
natuml  obligation  wholly  irrespective  of  what  one  may 
believe  concerning  the  gods.  Religion  in  its  true  mean- 
ing is  the  great  fact  of  duty,  of  oughtness,  consisting  in 
an  honest  and  persistent  effort  to  realize  ideal  excellence 
and  to  transform  it  into  actual  character  and  practical 
life.  Religion  as  a  spirit  and  a  life  is  objected  to  by 
none,  but  is  admired  and  commended  by  all.  It  is 
superstition,  bigotry,  credulity,  and  dogma  that  are 
detestable.  The  religious  instinct  has  been  perverted, 
turned  into  wrong  channels,  made  subservient  to  priest- 
craft and  kingcraft,  but  its  basic  principle  remains  for 
ever  firm.  If  it  could  have  been  destroyed,  the  machi- 
nations of  priests  would  have  annihilated  it  long  ago. 
Give  yourselves  no  anxiety  about  the  corner-stone  of 


THE  WHOLE  TRUTH.  13 

religion,  but  look  well  to  the  rotten  superstructures 
that  have  been  reared  upon  it.  Its  professed  friends 
are  often  its  real  enemies.  It  is  the  false  prophet 
who  is  afraid  to  have  his  oracles  subjected  to  tests 
of  reason  and  history.  It  is  the  evil-doer  who  is 
afraid  of  the  light,  the  conscious  thief  who  objects  to 
being  searched.  An  honest  man  would  say,  "  Let  the 
truth  be  published,  though  the  heavens  fall." 

The  whole  truth  should  be  published,  as  a  matter 
of  common  honesty,  if  nothing  more.  We  have  no 
moral  right  to  conceal  the  truth,  any  more  than  we 
have  to  proclaim  falsehood.  He  who  deliberately  does 
the  on,e  will  not  hesitate  long  about  doing  the  other. 
And  this  is  one  of  the  most  serious  aspects  of  this  sub- 
ject. He  who  can  bring  himself  to  practise  deceit  re- 
garding religion  will  soon  be  a  villain  at  heart,  even 
if  worldly  prudence  is  strong  enough  to  keep  him  out 
of  the  penitentiary. 

As  a  rule,  the  unfaithful  teacher  inflicts  a  greater 
evil  upon  his  own  soul  than  upon  his  unsuspecting 
dupe.  The  deceiver  is  sure  to  be  overtaken  by  his 
own  deceit.  Mean  men  become  more  mean,  and  liars 
come  to  believe  their  own  oft-repeated  falsehoods. 
This  principle  may  in  part  account  for  the  fact  that 
in  all  ages  dishonest,  mercenary,  designing  priests  have 
been  most  corrupt  citizens  and  ready  tools  in  the  hands 
of  tyrants  to  oppress  and  enslave  the  people. 

Every  deceptive  act  blunts  the  moral  sense,  defiles 
and  sears  the  conscience,  until  at  last  the  hypocrite 


14  SKELETON  KEYS. 

degenerates  into  a  slimy,  subtle  human  serpent  that 
always  crawls  upon  its  belly  and  eats  dust.  Secretive- 
ness  and  deceitfulness  become  a  second  nature,  and 
show  themselves  continually  even  in  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  life.  The  reflex  influence  of  deception  upon 
the  deceiver  himself  is  its  most  bitter  condemnation. 

But  modern  preachers  have  a  way  of  justifying  their 
evasions  and  prevarications  by  saying  that  even  Jesus 
himself  withheld  from  his  own  disciples  some  things, 
for  the  reason  that  they  were  "  not  able  to  bear  them," 
quite  overlooking  the  fact  that  he  is  also  reported  to 
have  said,  "  When  the  Spirit  of  truth  has  come,  he 
will  teach  you  all  things,"  and  that  other  passage 
(Luke  12 :  2),  where  Jesus  is  represented  as  saying, 
"For  there  is  nothing  covered  that  shall  not  be  re- 
vealed, neither  hid  that  shall  not  be  known.  There- 
fore, whatsoever  ye  have  spoken  in  darkness,  shall  be 
heard  in  the  light,  and  that  which  ye  have  spoken  in 
the  ear,  in  closets,  shall  be  proclaimed  upon  the  house- 
tops." 

If  after  eighteen  hundred  years  of  Christian  teach- 
ing the  time  has  not  yet  come  to  proclaim  the  whole 
truth,  it  is  not  likely  to  come  for  many  ages  in  the 
future.  If  religion  is  a  mystery  too  great  to  be  com- 
prehended, too  sacred  for  reverent  but  untrammelled 
investigation,  something  that  can  only  exist  with  a 
blind,  unreasoning  credulity  and  the  utter  stultification 
of  the  natural  faculties  of  a  true  manhood,  then  relig- 
ion is  not  worth  what  it  costs  and  should  be  exposed 
as  a  delusion  and  a  snare. 


THE  WHOLE  TRUTH.  15 

The  time  for  the  religious  Kabala  has  passed,  and 
ambiguities,  concealments,  and  evasions  are  no  longer 
to  be  tolerated.  Martin  Luther  builded  better  than 
he  knew  when  he  proclaimed  the  right  of  private 
judgment  in  matters  of  religion.  It  has  taken  two 
hundred  years  for  this  fundamental  principle  to  be- 
come thoroughly  accepted  by  the  people ;  but  so  firmly 
is  it  now  established  that  bigoted  ecclesiastics  might 
as  well  attempt  to  resist  the  trend  of  an  earthquake, 
stop  the  rising  of  the  sun,  and  turn  the  light  of 
noonday  into  the  darkness  of  midnight  as  to  attempt 
to  arrest  the  progress  of  a  true  religious  rationalism. 
The  mad  ravings  of  fanatics  will  have  no  more  influ- 
ence than  the  pope's  bull  had  on  the  comet.  Learn- 
ing is  no  longer  monopolized  by  a  few  monks  and 
ministers.  For  every  five  clergymen  who  are  abreast 
with  the  times,  the  progress  of  modern  thought,  and 
the  conclusions  of  science,  there  are  fifty  laymen  who 
are  familiar  with  the  writings  of  Humboldt,  Dar- 
win, Huxley,  Spencer,  Tyndall,  and  scores  of  other 
scientists,  to  whom  the  world  is  more  indebted  for  true 
progress  than  to  all  the  lazy  monks  and  muttering 
priests  who  have  lived  since  the  world  began.  The 
fact  is,  the  old  delusion  that  men  must  look  to  the 
sacerdotal  class  exclusively,  or  even  mainly,  for  relig- 
ious truth,  has  been  for  ever  banished  from  the  minds 
of  intelligent  men.  The  literature  of  the  day  is  full 
of  free  thought  and  downright  rationalism,  and  even 
the  secular  newspaper  is  a  missionary  of  religious 
progress  and  reform,  and  brings  stirring  messages  of 


16  SKELETON  KEYS. 

intellectual  progress  every  day  to  our  breakfast-tables. 
The  world  moves,  and  those  who  attempt  to  stop  it  are 
sure  to  be  crushed. 

The  pretence  that  anything  is  too  sacred  for  investi- 
gation and  publication  will  not  stand  the  light  of  this 
wide-awake  nineteenth  century. 

It  is  often  said  that  the  common  people  are  not 
ready  for  the  whole  truth.  In  1873,  Dr.  J.  G.  Hol- 
land, then  editor  of  Scribner's  Monthly,  wrote  to  Dr. 
Augustus  Blauvelt  declining  to  publish  an  article  on 
"  The  Divine  and  Infallible  Inspiration  of  the  Bible," 
and  added,  "  I  believe  you  are  right.  I  should  like  to 
speak  your  words  to  the  world ;  but  if  I  do  speak 
them  it  will  pretty  certainly  cost  me  my  connection 
with  the  magazine.  This  sacrifice  I  am  willing  to 
make  if  duty  requires  it.  I  am  afraid  of  nothing  but 
doing  injury  to  the  cause  I  love.  ...  In  short,  you 
see  that  I  sincerely  doubt  whether  the  Christian  world 
is  ready  for  this  article.  .  .  .  Instead  of  the  theologians 
the  people  would  howl.  ...  I  cannot  yet  carry  my 
audience  in  such  a  revolution.  Perhaps  I  shall  be  able 
to  do  so  by  and  by,  but  as  I  look  at  it  to-day  it  seems 
impossible.  .  .  .  My  dear  friend,  I  believe  in  you. 
You  are  in  advance  of  your  time.  You  have  great 
benefits  in  your  hands  for  your  time.  You  are  free 
and  true.  And  I  mourn  sadly  and  in  genuine  distress 
that  I  cannot  speak  your  words  with  a  tongue  which 
all  my  fellow-Christians  can  hear.  They  will  not  hear 
them  yet.     They  will  some  time.  .  .  ." 

Dr.  Holland  has  passed  away  and  cannot  reply  to 


THE   WHOLE  TRUTH  17 

criticism.  Let  us  be  kind  and  charitable.  He  in- 
tended to  be  right,  but  he  was  mistaken.  The  people 
do  not  howl  when  the  truth  is  published,  even  though 
their  prejudices  may  be  aroused ;  and  no  tedious  prep- 
aration is  now  necessary  to  be  able  to  hear  the  whole 
truth.  The  masses  of  the  people  are  hungry  for  know- 
ledge, and  it  is  high  time  that  they  be  honestly 
fed.  They  now  more  than  half  suspect  that  they  have 
been  deceived  by  those  some  of  whom  they  have  edu- 
cated by  their  charities  and  liberally  paid  to  teach  them 
the  truth.  When,  in  1875,  Scribner's  Monthly  did 
publish  Dr.  Blauvelt's  articles  on  "Modern  Skepti- 
cism," it  was  not  the  people  that  "  howled."  It  was 
the  clergy.  Some  of  them  demanded  a  new  editor; 
others  warned  the  people  from  the  pulpit  not  to  pat- 
ronize Scribner ;  and  one  distinguished  man  declared 
that  the  magazine  must  be  "  stamped  out,"  and  at  once 
organized  a  most  powerful  ecclesiastical  combination 
against  the  freedom  of  the  press ;  and  yet  the  North 
American  Review  and  other  similar  magazines  are  to- 
day doing  more  to  settle  long-mooted  religious  ques- 
tions than  all  the  pulpits  in  Christendom ;  and  the 
people  do  not  howl.  No  respectable  enterprising  pub- 
lisher now  hesitates  to  publish  a  book  of  real  merit, 
however  much  its  doctrines  may  differ  from  the  domi- 
nant faiths.  The  masses  of  the  people  are  determined 
to  know  all  that  can  be  known  of  the  history,  philoso- 
phy, and  principles  of  religion  ;  and  the  greater  the  ef- 
fort to  conceal  and  suppress  the  truth  the  stronger  will 
be  the  demand  for  its  full  and  undisguised  proclamation. 


18  SKELETON  KEYS. 

That  there  is  a  general  drifting  away  from  the  old 
formulas  of  religious  doctrine  everybody  knows,  and 
yet  there  is  more  practical  religion  in  the  world  to-day 
than  in  any  previous  age.  It  does  not  consist  in  fast- 
ings and  attendance  upon  ecclesiastical  rites  and  ordi- 
nances ;  but  it  takes  the  form  of  universal  education, 
of  providing  homes  for  friendless  infancy  and  old  age, 
of  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  children  and  even  to 
brute  animals,  of  the  more  rational  and  humane  treat- 
ment of  lunatics,  paupers,  and  criminals,  ameliorating 
the  miseries  of  prisons  and  hospitals, — in  short,  of 
elevating  and  improving  the  condition  of  universal 
humanity.  These  truly  religious  works  do  not  depend 
upon  any  particular  statement  of  religious  belief,  for 
all  sects  and  persons  of  no  sect  are  equally  engaged  in 
them. 

Charities  would  not  cease  if  all  creeds  should  be 
abandoned  or  should  be  so  revised  as  not  to  be  recog- 
nized by  the  disciples  of  Calvin  and  Wesley,  and  if 
every  priest  in  the  land  should  henceforth  give  up  the 
mummeries  and  puerilities  of  the  Dark  Ages. 

Religion,  as  the  "  enthusiasm  of  humanity,"  the  cul- 
tivation of  all  the  virtues,  and  the  practice  of  the  high- 
est morality  growing  out  of  the  inalienable  rights  of 
man  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  is  a  fixed  fact.  It  is  a 
natural  endowment,  coeval  with  humanity  in  its  devel- 
opment and  progress,  and  is  as  absolutely  indestructible 
as  manhood  itself. 

So  far  from  being  true  is  the  assumption  that  relig- 
ion would  be  imperilled  by  the  exposure  of  the  false 


THE   WHOLE  TRUTH.  19 

dogmas  of  theology  and  the  heathenish  rites  and  super- 
stitious ceremonies  of  eeelesiasticism,  it  is  clear  to  many 
minds  that  the  myths  of  dogmatic  theology  and  the 
absurdities  of  primitive  ages  are  the  chief  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  the  free  course  of  true  religion ;  and  it 
may  safely  be  affirmed  that  the  distinguishing  dogmas 
of  the  dominant  theology,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  as 
will  hereafter  be  shown,  are  essentially  demoralizing 
and  logically  tend  to  undermine  and  corrupt  public 
virtue.  It  is  not  intended  to  affirm  that  churches  and 
theologians  do  no  good  and  that  their  entire  influence 
is  bad.  They  teach  much  that  is  humane  in  principle 
and  moral  in  practice,  and  so  do  good  for  society. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  true  that  much  of  the  rotten  morality 
of  the  times  can  be  philosophically  traced  to  the  influ- 
ence of  a  false  theology.  The  main  dogmas  of  Romish 
and  orthodox  Protestant  creeds  are  false,  and  it  is 
absurd  to  suppose  that  a  pure  system  of  public  vir- 
tue can  be  founded  upon  ignorance,  superstition,  and 
falsehood. 

But,  after  all,  we  are  asked,  Does  it  make  any  odds 
what  one  believes  if  he  is  only  sincere  in  his  faith  ? 

The  obvious  answer  is,  that  the  more  sincerely  you 
believe  a  lie  the  more  dangerous  is  your  faith.  The 
more  trustfully  you  build  upon  a  sandy  foundation  the 
sooner  and  greater  will  be  the  fall  and  ruin  of  the 
superstructure.  The  more  implicitly  you  confide  in 
a  dishonest  partner  or  agent  the  more  successful  will 
be  his  robbery.  There  is  no  safety  in  error  and  false- 
hood.    The  AVestminster  divines  well  said,  "  Truth  is 


20  SKELETON  KEYS. 

in  order  to  righteousness."  There  can  be  no  true 
righteousness  inherent  in  a  system  of  superstition  and 
falsehood.  The  failure  of  the  Church  to  reach  the 
masses  and  to  establish  a  condition  of  public  honesty 
superior  to  the  ancient  heathen  morality  shows  that 
there  must  be  some  serious  defect  in  its  methods. 

But  the  crushing  objection  to  theological  agitation 
and  free  discussion  is  the  common  one  that  "  it  is  un- 
wise to  unsettle  and  destroy  the  faith  of  the  people  in 
the  dominant  theology  unless  there  is  something  better 
to  offer  them  as  a  substitute." 

There  is  something  better.  Truth  is  always  better 
and  safer  than  falsehood.  In  the  discussions  which  are 
to  follow  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  show  that  there 
is  a  natural  religion  which  accords  with  enlightened 
reason,  and  which  cannot  fail  to  furnish  a  firm  scientific 
foundation  for  the  highest  morality.  The  common  say- 
ing, that  "  it  is  better  to  have  a  false  religion  than  no 
religion,"  contains  two  groundless  assumptions — viz. 
that  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  have  no  religion,  and 
that  that  which  is  false  may  be  dignified  with  the  name 
religion.  It  is  about  time  that  things  should  be  called 
by  their  right  names,  and  that  superstition  and  false- 
hood should  not  be  deemed  necessary  to  public  morality. 

For  a  religion  (so  called)  of  superstition  and  false- 
hood there  must  be  a  religion  of  natural  science  that 
cannot  be  overthrown,  and  which  cannot  fail  to  make 
its  way  among  men  as  knowledge  shall  increase  and 
the  principles  of  true  religious  philosophy  shall  be 


THE  WHOLE  TRUTH.  21 

better  understood.  We  should  not  be  frightened  at  the 
cowardly  cry  of  "destructive  criticism."  We  must 
pull  down  before  we  can  reconstruct. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

(1)  To  imitate  the  example  of  the  early  Christian 
Fathers  in  fraud,  falsehood,  and  forgery  for  the  pro- 
motion of  religion  is  a  policy  that  is  too  shocking  to 
the  moral  sense  of  civilized  men  everywhere  to  be 
tolerated.  To  withhold  or  suppress  the  truth  is  a 
crime  against  humanity  and  contrary  to  the  spirit  of 
this  age ;  and  those  who  do  it  are  the  enemies  of  prog- 
ress and  unworthy  to  be  recognized  as  the  authoritative 
teachers  of  the  world. 

(2)  Those  who  publish  that  which  is  false  or  suppress 
what  is  true  not  only  do  a  great  wrong  to  the  people, 
but,  if  possible,  do  a  greater  wrong  to  their  own  souls, 
and  must  suifer  the  consequences.  They  must  have  an 
awful  reckoning  with  eternal,  retributive  justice. 

(3)  It  is  a  most  egregious  mistake  to  suppose  that  the 
people  cannot  be  trusted  with  the  whole  truth — that 
their  sense  of  right  is  so  dull  and  flimsy  that  on  the 
slightest  discovery  of  the  errors  in  which  they  have 
been  instructed  from  infancy  they  would  lose  confidence 
in  all  truth  and  rightfulness  and  rush  riotously  to  ruin. 
If  the  people  must  be  hoodwinked  for  ever,  then  the 
distinguishing  principle  of  the  Protestant  Reformation 
and  the  basic  principles  of  our  American  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  republican  government  are  false 
and  delusive,  and  we  should  return  to  meiliseval  times 


22  SKELETON  KEYS. 

and  to  feudal  and  autocratic  government  in  Church  and 
State. 

(4)  It  is  high  time  that  men  should  see  that  dogma 
is  not  religion ;  that  blind  faith  is  more  to  be  feared 
than  rational  skepticism  and  scientific  investigation  ; 
that  whatever  is  opposed  to  reason  and  science  in  the- 
ology can  be  spared,  not  only  without  any  loss,  but 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  true  religion  and  sound 
morality.  All  the  religion  that  is  worth  having  is 
natural  and  rational,  and  corresponds  with  the  facts  of 
the  universe  as  they  are  demonstrated  by  the  crucibles 
of  science  and  the  inductions  of  a  sound  philosophy. 
The  principal  moral  obligations  of  men  grow  out  of 
their  relations  to  each  other  in  life,  and  nothing  can  be 
more  complete  than  the  Golden  Rule,  emphasized  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  but  as  clearly  taught  in  the 
Jewish  Babylonian  Talmud,  and  in  the  twenty-fourth 
Maxim  of  the  Chinese  philosopher  Confucius,  and 
many  others  centuries  before  the  Christian  era. 

(5)  Instead  of  loading  down  religion  with  Oriental 
myths  and  fables,  instead  of  a  gorgeous  ritualism  and 
surpliced  priests,  borrowed  literally  from  the  ancient 
paganism,  instead  of  dogmas  and  creeds  and  unques- 
tioning faith  and  blind  submission  to  ecclesiastical 
dictation  and  rule,  we  want  sound  moral  instruction  in 
the  great  fundamental  truths  of  nature  and  of  science, 
which  will  always  be  found  to  strengthen  and  confirm 
the  principles  of  true  religion.  Tliese  are  the  sources 
from  which  to  gain  light.  We  want  less  creed 
and  more  ethical  culture,  less  profession  and  parapher- 


THE  WHOLE  TRUTH.  23 

nalia  in  religious  worship  and  more  practical  philosophy 
and  common  sense. 

(6)  The  man  who  in  scientific  matters  would  make 
false  representations  and  conceal  the  real  truth  would 
be  deemed  an  impostor,  and  the  time  has  come  when 
hypocrites  and  cowards  in  theology  should  be  made  to 
feel  their  degradation  and  be  forced  into  an  open  aban- 
donment of  "  ways  that  are  dark  and  tricks  that  are 
vain."  If  we  would  scorn  delusions  in  natural  phil- 
osophy, if  we  would  correct  errors  in  oceanic  charts, 
astronomical  diagrams,  and  geographical  maps,  why 
should  M'e  hesitate  to  correct  the  most  egregious  blun- 
ders regarding  those  things  which  are  infinitely  more 
important?  Can  we  with  any  proper  sense  of  pro- 
priety and  right  connive  at  falsehood  and  uphold  and 
strengthen  it  by  our  silence  and  cowardly  negligence  in 
failing  to  expose  it?  Are  not  all  delusions  debasing 
and  opposed  to  the  progress  of  truth  and  the  elevation 
of  mankind  ?  In  all  the  departments  of  human  know- 
ledge religion  and  morality  are  most  imperative  in  their 
demands  for  pure  and  unadulterated  truth  ;  and  he  who 
does  not  recognize  this  fact  sins  grievously  against  his 
own  soul,  against  the  human  family,  and  against  the 
truth  and  its  eternal  Author,  the  God  of  all  truth. 

(7)  Finally,  let  it  not  be  overlooked  that  it  will  not, 
for  many  reasons,  be  possible  much  longer  to  keep  the 
people  in  ignorance,  and  to  palm  off  upon  them  myths 
for  veritable  history  and  a  system  of  theology  plainly 
at  variance  with  the  conclusions  of  science,  the  facts  of 
history,  and  the  spiritual  and  moral  consciousness  of 


24       •  SKELETON  KEYS. 

every  true  and  well-developed  man.  The  schoolmaster 
is  abroad,  and  the  spirit  of  fearless  investigation  is  in 
the  air,  and  men  will,  sooner  or  later,  find  out  what  is 
true;  and  when  they  come  to  understand  how  they 
have  been  imposed  upon  by  their  cowardly  teachers,  a 
fearful  reaction  will  be  the  result ;  and  woe  to  the 
hypocrite  and  time-server  when  that  time  comes  !  It 
is  therefore  not  only  good  principle,  but  good  policy,  to 
tell  the  whole  truth  now.  The  following  copy  of  a 
book-notice  well  describes  the  prevalent  policy  regard- 
ing matters  of  faith  : 

"  A  theory  of  religious  philosophy  which  is  much 
commoner  among  us  than  most  of  us  think,  but  which 
has  never  been  expressed  so  fully  or  so  attractively  as 
in  the  story  of  Marius. 

" '  Submit,'  it  seems  to  say,  '  to  the  religious  order 
about  you,  accept  the  common  beliefs,  or  at  least  behave 
as  if  you  accepted  them,  and  live  habitually  in  the 
atmosphere  of  feeling  and  sensation  which  they  have 
engendered  and  still  engender ;  surrender  your  feeling 
while  still  maintaining  the  intellectual  citadel  intact ; 
pray,  weep,  dream  with  the  majority  while  you  think 
with  the  elect ;  only  so  will  you  obtain  from  life  all  it 
has  to  give,  its  most  delicate  flavor,  its  subtlest  aroma.' " 

Against  such  a  sham  the  writer  heartily  protests,  as 
against  the  villainous  maxim,  quoted  from  memory, 
accredited  to  Aristotle :  "  Think  with  the  sages  and 
philosophers,  but  talk  like  the  common  people."  Come 
what  may,  let  us  cease  to  profess  what  we  have  ceased 
to  believe. 


THE  WHOLE  TRUTH.  25 

"  The  two  learned  people  of  the  village,"  says  Dr. 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  telling  of  his  fanciful  Arrow- 
head Village,  "  were  the  rector  and  the  doctor.  These 
two  worthies  kept  up  the  old  controversy  between  the 
professions  which  grows  out  of  the  fact  that  one  studies 
nature  from  below  upward,  and  the  other  from  above 
downward.  The  rector  maintained  that  physicians 
contracted  a  squint  which  turns  their  eyes  inwardly, 
while  the  muscles  which  roll  their  eyes  upward  be- 
come palsied.  The  doctor  retorted  that  theological 
students  developed  a  third  eyelid — the  nictitating 
membrane,  which  is  so  well  known  in  birds,  and  which 
serves'  to  shut  out,  not  all  light,  but  all  the  light  they 
do  not  want." 

The  Presbyterians  have  provided  for  a  revision  of 
their  creed,  though  they  have  stultified  themselves  by 
certain  restrictions,  shutting  out  the  light  they  do  not 
want !  Let  us  hope  that  the  time  will  soon  come  when 
men  will  be  honest  enough  and  brave  enough  to  follow 
the  truth  wherever  it  may  lead.  Let  there  be  perfect 
veracity  above  all  things,  more  especially  in  matters  of 
religion.  It  is  not  a  question  of  courtesies  which  deceive 
no  one.  To  profess  what  is  not  believed  is  immoral. 
Immorality  and  untruth  can  never  lead  to  morality  and 
virtue ;  all  language  which  conveys  untruth,  either  in 
substance  or  appearance,  should  be  amended  so  that 
words  can  be  understood  in  their  recognized  meanings, 
without  equivocal  explanations  or  affirmations.  Let 
historic  facts  have  their  true  explanation. 


CHAPTER  II. 

•     SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED. 

"  The  heads  thereof  judge  for  reward,  and  the  priests  thereof 
teach  for  hire,  and  the  prophets  thereof  divine  for  money." — 
MicAH  3 :  11,  "  Put  me,  I  pray  thee,  into  one  of  the  priests'  offices, 
that  I  may  eat  a  piece  of  bread." — 1  Sam.  2 :  36. 

The  cognomens  priest,  prophet,  presbyter,  preacher, 
parson,  and  pastor  have  certain  things  in  common,  and 
these  titles  may  therefore  be  used  interchangeably. 

As  far  back  as  history  extends,  the  office  or  order 
now  represented  by  the  clerical  profession  existed.  It 
was  as  common  among  pagan  tribes  in  the  remotest 
periods  as  among  Jews  and  Christians  in  more  modern 
times.  Service  done  to  the  gods  by  the  few  in  behalf 
of  the  many  is  the  primary  idea  of  the  priestly  func- 
tion. It  has  always  and  everywhere  been  the  profes- 
sion and  prerogative  of  the  priests  to  pretend  to  ap- 
proach nearest  to  the  gods  and  to  propitiate  them  ;  on 
account  of  which  they  have  always  been  supposed  to 
have  special  influence  with  the  reigning  deity  and  to 
be  the  authorized  expounders  and  interpreters  of  the 
divine  oracles.  The  priesthood  has  always  been  a 
caste,  a  "  holy  order ;"  and  it  was  no  less  so  among 
ancient  Jews  than  among  modern  Christians.  In  all 
churches  clergymen  ex-ojido  exercise  certain  sacred 

26 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  27 

prerogatives.  They  occupy  select  seats  in  every  sanc- 
tuary. They  lead  in  every  act  of  worship.  They  pre- 
side over  every  sacred  ceremony.  They  exclusively 
administer  the  ordinances  of  religion.  They  baptize 
the  children  and  give  or  withhold  the  "  Holy  Com- 
munion." They  celebrate  our  marriages,  visit  pur  sick, 
and  conduct  our  funerals.  In  Romish  churches  and 
in  some  of  our  Protestant  churches  they  pretend  to 
pronounce  "  absolution  "  and  to  seal  the  postulant  for 
the  heavenly  rest.  It  is  not  necessary,  now  and  here, 
to  speak  of  the  evil  influence  that  these  pretensions 
exert  upon  the  common  people,  nor  of  the  light  in 
which  intelligent,  thinking  women  and  men  commonly 
regard  them ;  but  it  is  appropriate  to  note  the  reflex 
influence  which  such  assumptions  have  upon  the  clergy 
themselves,  disqualifying  them  for  such  rational  pres- 
entation of  doctrinal  truth  as  their  hearers  have  a 
right  to  expect. 

The  pride  of  his  order  makes  it  humiliating  for  the 
priest  to  admit  that  what  he  does  not  know  is  worth 
knowing.  Claiming  to  be  the  authorized  expounder 
of  God's  will,  how  can  he  admit  that  he  can  possibly 
be  in  error  in  any  matter  relating  to  religion?  In 
view  of  the  high  pretensions  of  his  order,  founded, 
as  he  claims,  upon  a  plenarily-inspired  and  infallible 
book-revelation,  and  he  professing  to  be  specially  called 
and  sanctified  by  God  himself  as  his  representative,  it 
would  be  ecclesiastical  treason  to  admit,  even  by  impli- 
cation, that  he  is  not  in  possession  of  all  truth.  Re- 
garding his  creed  as  a  finality,  his  mind  becomes  nar- 


28  SKELETON  KEYS. 

row,  circumscribed,  and  unprogressive.  He  was  taught 
from  childhood  that  "  to  doubt  is  to  be  damned,"  and 
through  all  his  novitiate  he  was  warned  against  being 
unsettled  by  the  delusions  of  reason  and  the  wiles  of 
infidelity.  His  professional  education  has  been  narrow, 
one-sided,  sectarian.  He  has  seldom,  if  ever,  read  any- 
thing outside  of  his  own  denominational  literature,  and 
has  heard  little  from  anybody  but  his  own  theological 
professors  and  associates.  He  suspects  that  Humboldt, 
Spencer,  Huxley,  and  Tyndall  are  all  infidels,  and  that 
the  sum  and  substance  of  Evolution,  as  taught  by 
Darwin,  is  that  man  is  the  lineal  descendant  of  the 
monkey. 

Some  persons  think  that  ministers  are  often  selected 
from  among  weaklings  in  the  family  fold.  However, 
this  may  be,  the  absorption  of  the  "  holy-orders  "  idea, 
and  the  natural  self-assurance  and  self-satisfaction  that 
belong  to  a  caste  profession,  render  delusive  the  hope 
that  anything  original  can  ever  come  from  such  a  source. 
Whether  weak  at  first  or  not,  the  habits  of  thought 
and  the  peculiar  training  of  young  ecclesiastics  are 
almost  sure  to  dwarf  them  intellectually  for  life.  The 
theological  student  has  become  the  butt  in  wide-awake 
society  everywhere,  and  his  appearance  in  public  is  the 
occasion  for  jests  and  ridicule  over  his  sanctimonious 
vanity  and  silly  pride.  The  extreme  clerical  costume 
which  he  is  sure  to  assume  excites  the  disgust  of  sen- 
sible people,  though  he  may  march  through  the  street 
and  up  the  aisle  with  the  regulation  step  of  the  "  order," 
and  suppose  himself  to  be  the  object  of  reverent  ad- 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  29 

miration  on  the  part  of  all  beholders.  No  wonder  that 
the  churches  complain  that  few  young  men  of  ability 
enter  the  ministry  in  these  modern  times. 

The  priestly  office  has  always  been  deemed  one  of 
great  influence,  so  that  ancient  kings  were  accustomed 
to  assume  it.  This  was  true  of  the  kings  of  ancient 
Egypt,  and  the  practice  was  kept  up  among  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.  Even  Constantine,  the  first  Christian 
emperor  (so  called),  continued  to  exercise  the  function 
of  a  pagan  priest  after  his  professed  conversion  to 
Christianity,  and  he  was  not  initiated  into  the  Chris- 
tian Church  by  baptism  until  just  before  his  death. 
One  excommunicated  king  lay  for  three  days  and  nights 
in  the  snow  in  the  courtyard  before  the  Pope  would 
grant  him  an  audience  !  The  "  Pontifex-Maximus " 
idea  of  the  Roman  emperors  was  the  real  foundation 
of  the  "  temporal  power "  claimed  by  the  bishops  of 
Rome.  Kingcraft  and  priestcraft  have  always  been 
in  close  alliance.  When  the  king  was  not  a  priest  he 
always  used  the  priest;  and  the  priest  has  generally 
been  willing  to  be  used  on  the  side  of  the  king  as 
against  the  people  when  liberally  subsidized  by  the 
reigning  potentate.  Moreover,  priestcraft  has  always 
been  ambitious  for  power,  and  sometimes  has  been  so 
influential  as  to  make  the  monarch  subservient  to  the 
monk.  More  than  one  proud  crown  has  been  humbly 
removed  in  token  of  submission  to  priestly  authority, 
and  powerful  sovereigns  have  been  obliged  to  submit  to 
the  most  menial  exactions  and  humiliations  at  ecclesias- 
tical mandates.     The   priestly  r61e  has  always  been  to 


30  SKELETON  KEYS. 

utilize  the  religious  sentiment  for  the  subjection  of  the 
credulous  to  the  arbitrary  influence  of  the  caste  or 
order. 

Priestcraft  never  could  aiford  to  have  a  conscience, 
so  admitted,  and  therefore  it  has  not  shrunk  from  the 
commission  of  any  crime  that  could  augment  its  do- 
minion. Its  greatest  success  has  been  in  the  work  of 
demoralization.  It  has  always  been  the  corrupter  of 
religion.  The  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  perversions  of  the  religious  sentiment,  in- 
nate in  man,  have  been  the  stock  in  trade  of  the  craft 
in  all  ages,  and  are  to-day. 

It  will  be  shown  later  how  the  whole  system  of  dog- 
matic theology,  Romish  and  Protestant  (for  the  system 
is  the  same),  has  been  formed  so  as  to  aggrandize  the 
priest,  perpetuate  his  power,  and  hold  the  masses  in 
strict  subjection.  This  is  a  simple  matter  of  fact. 
History  is  philosophy  teaching  by  example,  and  often 
repeats  itself,  and  it  seldom  gives  an  example  of  a 
priestly  caste  or  "  holy "  order  of  men  leading  in  a 
great  practical  reform.  The  dominant  priestly  idea  is 
to  protect  the  interests  of  the  order,  not  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  the  people. 

In  view  of  these  principles  and  facts,  and  others 
which  might  be  presented,  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude 
that  we  cannot  expect  the  whole  living,  unadulterated 
truth,  even  if  they  had  it,  from  the  professional  clergy. 
The  caste  idea  renders  it  essentially  unnatural  and 
philosophically  impossible. 

But  there  are  other  potent  reasons  why  such  expec- 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  31 

tation  is  vain.  All  Christendom  is  covered  with  numer- 
ous sects  in  the  form  of  ecclesiastical  judicatories,  each 
claiming  to  be  the  true  exponent  of  all  religious  truth. 
The  Romish  Church  is  pre-eminently  priestly  and  au- 
tocratic. The  priesthood  is  the  Church,  and  the  people 
only  belong  to  the  Church ;  that  is,  belong  to  the 
priesthood,  and  that,  too,  in  a  stronger  sense  than  at 
first  seems  to  attach  to  the  word  belong.  Then  the 
priesthood  itself  is  subdivided  into  castes. 

"  Great  fleas  have  little  fleas  upon  their  backs  to  bite  'em, 
And  little  fleas  have  lesser  fleas ;  and  so — ad  infinitum." 

When  Patrick  J.  Eyan  was  installed  Archbishop  in 
Philadelphia,  an  office  conferred  by  a  foreign  potentate, 
our  own  city  newspapers  in  flaming  headlines  called  it 
"  The  Enthronement  of  a  Priest !"  And  so  it  was.  He 
sat  upon  a  throne  and  received  the  honors  of  a  prince. 
He  is  called  "  His  Grace,"  and  wears  the  royal  purple 
in  the  public  streets.  Bishops  are  higher  than  the  "  in- 
ferior clergy,"  and  the  priest,  presbyter,  or  elder  is  of  a 
higher  caste  than  the  deacon,  and  all  are  higher  and 
more  holy  than  the  people.  All  ministers  exercise 
functions  which  would  be  deemed  sacrilege  in  a  lay- 
man. The  same  odious  spirit  of  caste  prevails  in  fact, 
if  not  so  prominently  in  form,  in  all  orthodox  denomi- 
nations, especially  as  to  the  distinction  between  the 
clergy  and  the  laity.  Even  Quakers  have  higher  seats 
for  "  recommended  ministers." 

Moreover,  priests  have  laid  down  creeds  containing 
certain  affirmations  and  denials  which  are  called  "  Ar- 


32  SKELETON  KEYS. 

tides  of  Religion,"  to  which  all  students  of  divinity 
and  candidates  for  holy  orders  must  subscribe  before 
they  can  be  initiated  into  the  sacred  arcana. 

The  professor  in  the  theological  seminary,  who  per- 
haps was  selected  for  the  chair  quite  as  much  for  his 
conservatism  as  for  his  learning,  has  taken  a  pledge, 
if  not  an  oath,  that  he  will  teach  the  young  aspirant 
for  ecclesiastical  honors  nothing  at  variance  with  the 
standards  of  his  denomination ;  which  covenant  he  is 
very  sure  to  keep  (having  other  professors  and  aspi- 
rants for  professorships  to  watch  him)  in  full  view  of 
the  penalty  of  dismission  from  his  chair  and  consequent 
ecclesiastical  degradation.  The  very  last  place  on  this 
earth  where  one  might  expect  original  research,  thorough 
investigation,  and  fearless  proclamation  of  the  whole 
truth  is  in  a  theological  school.  A  horse  in  a  bark-mill 
becomes  blind  in  consequence  of  going  round  and  round 
in  the  same  circular  path ;  and  the  theological  profes- 
sor in  his  treadmill  cannot  fail  to  become  purblind  as 
regards  all  new  truth. 

What  can  be  expected  from  the  graduates  of  such 
seminaries  ? 

The  theological  novitiate  sits  with  trembling  rever- 
ence at  the  feet  of  the  venerable  theological  Gamaliel. 
From  his  sanctified  lips  he  is  to  learn  all  wisdom. 
Without  his  approbation  he  cannot  receive  the  coveted 
diploma.  Without  his  recommendation  he  will  not  be 
likely  to  receive  an  early  call  to  a  desirable  parish. 

The  student  is  obliged  to  find  in  the  Bible  just  what 
his  Church  requires,  and  nothing  more  and  nothing 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.     '  33 

less.  In  order  to  be  admitted  into  the  clerical  caste 
and  have  holy  hands  laid  upon  his  youthful  head  he 
must  believe  or  profess  to  believe,  ipsissima  verba,  just 
what  the  "  Confession "  and  "  Catechism "  contain. 
The  E.ev.  Dr.  Samuel  Miller  once  said  in  a  sort  of  con- 
fidential undertone,  "  What  is  the  use  of  examining 
candidates  for  the  ministry  at  all  as  to  what  they  be- 
lieve ?  The  fact  that  they  apply  for  admission  shows 
that  they  intend  to  answer  all  questions  as  we  expect 
them  to  answer ;  else,  they  very  well  know,  we  would 
not  admit  them." 

The  ecclesiastical  system  is  emphatically  an  iron- 
bedstead  system.  If  a  candidate  is  too  long,  it  cuts 
him  shorter ;  and  if  too  short,  it  stretches  him.  He 
must  be  made  to  fit.  Then,  after  "  ordination  "  or 
"  consecration,"  the  new-fledged  theologian  enters  upon 
his  public  work  so  pressed  by  the  cares  of  his  charge 
and  the  social  and  professional  demands  upon  his  time 
that  he  finds  it  impossible  to  prepare  a  lecture  and  two 
original  sermons  a  week ;  so  he  falls  back  upon  the 
"  notes  "  he  took  from  the  lips  of  his  "  old  professor  " 
in  the  divinity  school,  or  upon  some  of  those  numer- 
ous "  skeletons  "  and  "  sketches  "  of  sermons  expressly 
published  for  the  "  aid  "  of  busy  young  ministers ;  and 
he  gives  to  "  his  people "  a  dish  of  theological  hash, 
if  not  of  re-hash,  instead  of  pouring  out  his  own 
living  words  that  should  breathe  and  thoughts  that 
should  burn. 

Hence  it  is  easy  to  see  why  one  scarcely  ever  gets 
a  fresh,  living  truth  from  the  pulpit     It  is  almost 


34  •  SKELETON  KEYS. 

always  the  same  old,  old  story  of  commonplace  fossils 
that  the  wide-awake  world  has  outgrown  long  ago,  and 
that  modern  science  has  fearlessly  consigned  to  the 
"  bats  and  the  moles  "  of  the  Dark  Ages.  No  wonder 
the  pulpit  platitudes  fail  to  attract  the  masses  of  earnest 
men,  especially  in  our  great  cities. 

Then  if  a  clergyman  should  discover,  after  years  of 
thought  and  study,  that  he  has  been  in  error  in  some 
matters,  and  that  a  pure  rational  interpretation  of  the 
Bible  is  possible,  and  he  really  feels  that  the  creeds, 
as  well  as  the  Scriptures,  need  revising,  what  can  he 
do?  If  he  lets  his  new  light  shine,  he  will  share  the 
fate  of  Colenso,  Robertson  Smith,  Augustus  Blauvelt, 
Professor  Woodrow,  and  scores  of  others.  He  knows 
that  heresy-hunters  are  on  the  scent  of  his  track.  The 
mad-dog  cry  of  Heretic  would  be  as  fatal  as  a  sharp 
shot  from  the  ecclesiastical  rifle.  Proscription,  deg- 
radation, ostracism,  stare  him  in  the  face.  Few  men 
who  have  the  esprit  de  corps  of  ecclesiasticism  and  a 
reasonable  regard  for  personal  comfort  and  preferment 
are  heroic  enough  to  face  the  social  exclusion,  financial 
ruin,,  and  beggary  for  themselves  and  families  which 
are  almost  sure  to  follow  a  trial  and  condemnation  for 
heresy.  If  the  newly-enlightened  minister  escapes  the 
inquisition  of  a  heresy  trial  by  declaring  himself  in- 
dependent, he  has  a  gauntlet  to  run  in  which  many 
poisoned  arrows  will  be  sure  to  pierce  his  quivering 
spirit.  It  is  true  that  some  sects  have  no  written  creed 
and  no  trials  for  heresy ;  but  even  among  them  there 
is  an  implied  standard  of  what  is  "  regular,"  and  more 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  35 

than  one  grand  soul  knows  by  a  sorrowful  experience, 
what  it  is  to  belong  to  the  "  left  wing  "  of  the  Liberal 
army,  and  to  follow  the  "  spirit  of  truth  "  outside  of 
the  implied  creed. 

Another  reason  why  the  whole  truth  cannot  be  ex- 
pected from  the  regular  clergy  is,  the  influence  of  their 
pecuniary  dependence  upon  those  to  whom  they  minis- 
ter. The  Jews  have  always  been  great  borrowers  and 
imitators.  It  was  quite  natural  that  they  should  adopt 
the  "  price-current  list "  of  the  ancient  Phoenicians, 
whose  priests  not  only  exacted  the  tribute  of  "  first- 
fruits,"  but  a  fee  in  kind  of  each  sacrifice.  Then  the 
judicial  functions  exercised  by  Jewish  priests  became 
a  fruitful  source  of  revenue,  as  the  fines  for  certain 
ofiences  were  paid  to  the  priests  (2  Kings  12:  16; 
Hosea  4:8;  Amos  2  :  8).  According  to  2  Sam.  8:18 
and  2  Kings  10 :  11,  also  12 :  2,  the  priests  of  the 
royal  sanctuaries  became  the  grandees  of  the  realm, 
while  the  petty  priests  were  generally  poor  enough — 
just  as  is  well  known  to  be  the  case  among  the  Chris- 
tian clergy  of  to-day,  some  receiving  a  salary  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  and  more  per  annum,  while  many 
of  the  "  inferior  clergy  "  hardly  average  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  a  year. 

That  the  Christian  clerical  profession  was  borrowed 
from  the  Jews,  just  as  the  latter  copied  it  from  the 
heathen,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  Paul,  while  re- 
fusing for  himself  pecuniary  support,  preferring  to 
"work  with  his  own  hands"  (weaving  tent-cloth), 
"  living  in  his  own  hired  house,"  nevertheless  defended 


36*  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  principle  of  ministerial  support,  mainly  on  the 
ground  of  the  Mosaic  law  (Deut.  25  :  4),  "  Thou  shalt 
not  muzzle  the  ox  when  he  treadeth  "out  the  corn" 
(1  Cor.  9:9;  1  Tim.  5  :  18).  It  is  a  striking  illus- 
tration of  the  inconsistency  of  the  modern  clergy  that 
they  quote,  in  reference  to  a  salaried  ministry,  the  words 
ascribed  to  Jesus  (Matt.  10  :  10),  "  The  workman  is 
worthy  of  his  meat,"  or,  as  it  is  rendered  in  Luke 
10 :  7,  "  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,"  very  con- 
veniently forgetting  to  quote  the  connecting  words 
requiring  them  to  "  provide  neither  gold  nor  silver  nor 
brass  in  their  purse,  nor  scrip  for  their  journey,  neither 
two  coats,  neither  shoes,  nor  yet  staves,"  but  to  enter 
unceremoniously  into  any  house,  accepting  any  proffered 
hospitality,  "  eating  such  things  as  might  be  set  before 
them."  The  fact  is,  the  first  disciples  of  Jesus,  accord- 
ing to  our  Gospels,  were  mendicant  monks,  leading  lives 
of  asceticism  and  poverty.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
one  of  them  ever  received  a  salary ;  they  made  them- 
selves entirely  dependent  on  public  charity  and  hospi- 
tality. The  idea  of  a  "church  living"  or  "beneficed 
clergy "  or  a  salaried  ministry  never  entered  into  the 
mind  of  Him  of  whom  it  is  said  he  "  had  not  where  to 
lay  his  head." 

It  is  enough  for  the  present  argument  to  emphasize 
the  point  that,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  it  is  not 
reasonable  to  expect  the  whole  truth  from  a  salaried 
ministry.  Those  who  have  a  large  salary  naturally 
desire  to  retain  it ;  those  who  have  small  and  insuf- 
ficient salaries  naturally  desire  to  have  them  increased. 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  37 

This  can  only  be  done  by  carefully  preserving  a  good 
orthodox  standing  according  to  the  sectarian  shibboleth, 
and  in  pleasing  the  people  who  rent  the  pews  or  who 
dole  out  their  penurious  subscriptions  for  "  the  support 
of  the  gospel."  High-salaried  ministers  are  most 
likely  to  be  proud,  arrogant,  bigoted,  sectarian.  Starve- 
ling ministers  become  broken  in  spirit,  fawning,  and 
crouching,  and  they  generally  have  an  unconscious  ex- 
pression of  appeal  for  help,  of  importunity  and  ex- 
pectancy, stamped  upon  their  faces.  The  millstone  of 
pecuniary  dependence  hangs  so  heavily  about  their 
necks  that  they  seldom  hold  up  their  heads  like  men, 
and  they  can  never  utter  a  new  truth  or  a  startling 
sentiment  without  pausing  to  consider  what  effect  it 
may  have  on  the  bread  and  butter  of  a  dependent  and 
generally  numerous  family.  Ministers  with  high  sal- 
aries are  almost  sure  to  be  spoiled,  and  those  with  low 
ones  are  sure  to  be  stultified  and  dwarfed  intellectually 
and  morally  ;  so  that  we  cannot  depend  upon  either  class 
for  the  highest  and  latest  truths.  Those  who  have  a 
"  living,"  provided  in  a  State  Church,  and  those  who 
depend  upon  voluntary  contributions  from  the  people, 
are  alike  manacled  and  handicapped.  We  must  look 
elsewhere  than  to  the  modern  pulpit  for  that  truth 
which  alone  can  give  freedom  and  true  manliness. 
Perfect  indifference  as  to  ecclesiastical  standing,  backed 
by  pecuniary  independence,  is  an  essential  condition  for 
untrammelled  investigation  and  the  fearless  proclama- 
tion of  the  whole  truth. 

It  was  noticed  in  the  recent  convention  of  scientists 


38  SKELETON  KEYS. 

in  this  city  (the  American  Association)  that  it  was  the 
salaried  professors  in  Church  colleges  who  professed  to 
find  no  conflict  between  Geology  and  Genesis.  It  will 
always  be  so  until  the  ecclesiastical  tyranny  is  greatly 
weakened  or  destroyed,  and  men  can  utter  their  boldest 
thoughts  without  fear  or  favor,  and  when  teachers  can 
aiford  to  have  a  conscience  by  making  themselves  free 
from  Church  control  and  menial  dependence  upon  those 
to  whom  they  minister  for  the  necessaries  of  a  mere 
livelihood.  Science  itself  has  made  progress  only  as 
it  has  been  fearless  of  priestly  maledictions ;  and  when 
it  shall  throw  off  the  incubus  of  Church  patronage  it 
will  astonish  the  world  in  showing  the  eternal  antag- 
onisms between  the  dogmas  of  the  dominant  theol- 
ogy and  the  essential  truths  of  natural  religion  and 
morality. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

The  following  conclusions  follow  from  what  has 
been  said : 

(1)  The  clerical  fraternity  claims  to  be  more  than  a 
mere  profession.  It  is  essentially  a  caste,  a  "holy 
order,"  borrowed  from  the  ancient  paganism,  but  some- 
what modified  by  Judaism  and  a  perverted  Christianity. 

(2)  From  such  a  caste  or  order  the  whole  truth  is 
not  to  be  expected,  especially  when  the  truth  would 
show  the  order  to  be  an  imposture.  The  assumptions 
of  peculiar  sanctity,  official  pre-eminence,  functional 
prerogatives,  and  special  spiritual  authority  make  such 
a  hope  unnatural  and  quite  impossible. 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  39 

(3)  The  church  system,  with  its  tests  of  orthodoxy, 
its  ecclesiastical  handcuffs,  and  its  worse  than  physical 
thumb-screws,  puts  an  end  to  all  independent  thinking, 
and  results  in  an  enforced  conformity  inconsistent  with 
intellectual  progress  and  the  discovery  and  full  publi- 
cation of  the  whole  truth. 

(4)  The  pecuniary  stipend  upon  which  professional 
preachers  are  dependent  has  a  demoralizing  and  de- 
grading influence,  so  that  the  doctrinal  teaching  of  the 
pulpit  should  not  be  received  without  hesitation  and 
distrust.  The  common  law  excludes  the  testimony  of 
interested  witnesses,  and,  though  modern  statutes  admit 
such  testimony,  the  courts  take  it  for  what  it  is  worth, 
but  always  with  many  grains  of  allowance.  "  A  gift 
perverteth  judgment,"  and  self-interest  may  sway  the 
convictions  of  a  man  who  intends  and  desires  to  be 
fairly  honest. 

(5)  The  existing  systems  of  ministerial  education 
and  support  deter  many  superior  men  from  entering 
the  profession,  and  have  placed  preaching  upon  a  com- 
mercial or  mercantile  basis,  which  has  manacled  and 
crippled  the  pulpit,  and  must  sooner  or  later  result  in 
the  consideration  of  the  question  whether  the  services 
of  the  clergy  are  worth  what  they  cost,  and  whether 
the  truth  must  not  be  sought  for  in  some  other  direc- 
tion. More  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
priests  and  ministers  (of  whom  about  one  hundred 
thousand  are  in  the  United  States)  are  maintain- 
ed at  an  annual  expense  of  more  than  five  hundred 
millions  of  dollars ;  and,  as  a  rule,  where  priests  are 


40  SKELETON  KEYS. 

most  numerous,  people  are  poorest  and  public  morality 
lowest. 

A  member  of  the  Canadian  Parliament  (Hon.  James 
Beatty)  has  recently  published  a  book  in  which  he 
opposes  the  whole  system  of  a  salaried  clergy  on 
scriptural  and  other  grounds  ;  and  many  other  thought- 
ful men  are  beginning  to  inquire  how  it  is  that  the 
Society  of  Friends  get  along  so  well  without  a  "  hire- 
ling miuistiy." 

(6)  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  we  must 
look  mainly  to  professional  clergymen  for  instruction 
in  divine  things.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  most 
able  and  important  books  that  have  been  published 
within  the  last  decade  have  been  written  by  laymen 
or  by  persons,  like  Emerson,  who  have  outgrown  the 
narrow  garments  of  a  caste  profession  and  have  laid 
them  off.  How  to  get  along  without  professional  minis- 
ters has  been  well  answered  by  Capt.  Robert  C.  Adams 
(quoted  in  the  writer's  book,  Man — Wlience  and 
Whither  f  pp.  218,  219). 

If  ministers  would  give  up  the  holy-orders  idea, 
cast  into  the  sea  the  millstone  incumbrance  of  pecuniary 
dependence,  engage  earnestly  in  some  legitimate  work 
to  support  themselves,  they  would  then  for  the  first 
time  begin  to  realize  what  soul-freedom  is,  and  they 
could  then  preach  with  an  intelligence  and  power  and 
with  a  satisfaction  to  themselves  of  which  they  now 
know  nothing.  Let  them  try  it  for  themselves  and 
learn  a  lesson.  Whether  the  clerical  order  is  so  divine 
an  institution  that  we  have  no  right  to  call  it  into 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  41 

question  or  to  abolish  it  altogether,  is  a  question  that 
must  be  practically  considered  soon. 

(7)  There  is  a  deep  impression  widely  prevailing 
among  thoughtful  and  sincerely  religious  persons  that 
the  infidelity  of  the  pulpit  is  largely  responsible  for 
the  prevailing  skepticism  of  the  age.  The  word  "  in- 
fidelity "  is  here  specially  used  in  a  strict  philological 
sense — injidele,  not  faithful,  unfaithfulness  to  a  trust — 
but  it  is  also  used  in  its  more  general  sense  of  disbelief 
in  certain  religious  dogmas. 

THE  CLERGY  ARRAIGNED. 

We  impeach  and  arraign  the  clergy  (admitting  a 
few  honorable  exceptions)  on  the  general  charge  of 
infdelity,  in  the  strictest  and  broadest  sense  of  the 
word — 
^  1st.  In  that  they  fail  to  qualify  themselves  to  be  the 
leaders  of  thought  in  the  great,  living  questions  aifect- 
ing  religion  and  morality.  We  have  elsewhere  said : 
"  Not  one  minister  in  a  thousand  '  discerns  the  signs 
of  the  times '  or  is  prepared  for  the  crisis.  Few  pas- 
tors ever  read  anything  beyond  their  own  denomina- 
tional literature.  Their  education  is  partial,  one-sided, 
professional.  They  cling  to  mediaeval  superstitions 
with  the  desperate  grasp  of  drowning  men.  The  great 
majority  of  the  clergy  are  not  men  of  broad  minds  and 
wide  and  deep  research,  and  have  not  the  ability  to 
meet  the  vexed  questions  of  to-day." 

It  is  an  admitted  policy,  especially  among  the  ortho- 
dox clergy  (so  called),  not  to  read  or  to  listen  to  any- 


42  SKELETON  KEYS. 

thing  that  might  unsettle  their  faith  in  what  they  have 
accepted  as  a  finality ;  whereas  no  man  can  intelli- 
gently believe  anything  until  he  has  candidly  considered 
the  reasons  assigned  by  other  men  for  not  believing  what 
he  does.  "  He  that  is  first  in  his  own  cause  seemeth 
just ;  but  his  neighbor  cometh  and  searcheth  him." 

Professor  Fisher,  the  champion  of  Yale-College 
orthodoxy,  has  recently  admitted  in  the  North  Ameri- 
can Review  that  at  least  one  of  the  causes  of  the  de- 
cline of  clerical  authority  and  influence  is  the  increased 
intelligence  of  the  laity.  If  the  people  cannot  get 
what  they  desire  from  the  pulpit,  they  will  seek  it 
from  the  platform  and  the  press.  Truth  is  no  longer  to 
be  concealed  in  cloisters  and  smothered  in  theological 
seminaries,  but  it  is  to  be  proclaimed  from  housetops 
and  in  language  understood  in  every-day  life. 

It  was  once  said  that  "  the  lips  of  the  priest  give 
knowledge  ;"  but  it  may  now  be  truly  said  that  mod- 
ern scientists  and  philosophers  among  the  laity  are  the 
principal  teachers  of  mankind,  and  that  publications 
like  the  North  American  Review  and  The  Forum,  and 
last,  but  not  least,  the  secular  daily  newspapers,  are 
doing  more  to  instruct  the  people  in  living  truths  than 
the  whole  brood  of  ecclesiastical  parrots. 

2d.  We  charge  that  many  professional  clergymen 
suppress  things  which  they  do  believe  to  be  true,  and 
not  unfrequently  suggest  things,  at  least  by  implica- 
tion, which  they  do  know  to  be  false. 

Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale  recently  published  an  article 
in  the  North  Amencan  Review  entitled  "  Insincerity  in 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  43 

the  Pulpit ;"  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Phillips  Brooks  of  Bos- 
ton, who  recently  received  episcopal  honors  in  Massa- 
chussetts,  has  confirmed  in  the  Princeton  Review  what 
Dr.  Hale  charged  in  the  North  American  Review  regard- 
ing clerical  disingenuousness.    Dr.  Brooks  wrote  thus  : 

"  A  large  acquaintance  with  clerical  life  has  led  me 
to  think  that  almost  any  company  of  clergymen,  talk- 
ing freely  to  each  other,  will  express  opinions  which 
would  greatly  surprise,  and  at  the  same  time  greatly 
relieve,  the  congregations  who  ordinarily  listen  to  these 
ministers.  .  .  .  How  many  men  in  the  ministry  to-day 
believe  in  the  doctrine  of  verbal  inspiration  which  our 
fathers  held  ?  and  how  many  of  us  have  frankly  told 
the  people  that  we  do  not  believe  it  ?  .  .  .  How  many 
of  us  hold  that  the  everlasting  punishment-  of  the 
wicked  is  a  clear  and  certain  truth  of  revelation?  But 
how  many  of  us  who  do  not  have  ever  said  a  word  ?" 

The  same  principle  of  prevarication  and  deceit  was 
practised  by  the  early  Fathers  of  the  Christian  Church, 
who  not  only  concealed  the  truth  from  the  masses  of 
the  people,  but  did  not  hesitate  to  deceive  and  mislead 
them. 

Mosheim,  an  ecclesiastical  historian  of  high  authority, 
testifies  that  "  in  the  fourth  century  it  was  an  almost 
universally  adopted  maxim  that  it  was  an  act  of  virtue 
to  deceive  and  lie  when  by  such  means  the  interests 
of  the  Church  might  be  promoted."  He  further  says 
of  the  fifth  century,  "  Fraud  and  impudent  imposture 
were  artfully  proportioned  to  the  credulity  of  the 
vulgar." 


44  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Milman,  in  his  History  of  Christianity,  says :  "  It 
was  admitted  and  avowed  that  to  deceive  into  Chris- 
tianity was  so  valuable  a  service  as  to  hallow  deceit 
itself."  He  further  says  in  the  same  historical  work, 
"  That  some  of  the  Christian  legends  were  deliberate 
forgeries  can  scarcely  be  questioned."  There  is  not  a 
Bible  manuscript  or  version  that  has  not  been  manipu- 
lated by  ecclesiastics  for  century  after  century.  Many 
of  these  priests  were  both  ignorant  and  vicious.  From 
the  fifth  to  the  fifteenth  century  crimes  not  fit  to  be 
mentioned  prevailed  among  the  clergy. 

Dr.  Lardner  says  that  Christians  of  all  sorts  were 
guilty  of  fraud,  and  quotes  Cassaubon  as  saying,  "  In 
the  earliest  times  of  the  Church  it  was  considered  a 
capital  ^exploit  to  lend  to  heavenly  truth  the  help  of 
their  own  inventions."  Dr.  Thomas  Burnet,  in  a 
Latin  treatise  intended  for  the  clergy  only,  said,  "  Too 
much  light  is  hurtful  to  weak  eyes ;"  and  he  recom- 
mended the  practice  of  deceiving  the  common  people 
for  their  own  good.  I  hnow  that  this  same  policy  is 
in  vogue  in  our  day.  This  same  nefarious  doctrine  of 
the  exoteric  and  esoteric,  one  thing  for  the  priest  and 
another  for  the  people,  is  far  from  being  dead  in  this 
nineteenth  century.  It  has  always  been,  and  now  is, 
the  real  priestly  policy  to  keep  the  common  people  in 
ignorance  of  many  things ;  and  if  all  do  not  accept 
the  maxim  of  Gregory,  that  "  Ignorance  is  the  mother 
of  Devotion,"  many  ministers  privately  hold  in  our  day 
that  "  where  ignorance  is  bliss  'tis  folly  to  be  wise." 

3d.  The  third  article  of  impeachment,  under  the 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  45 

general  charge  of  infidelity  is,  that  saeerdotalists  teach 
dogmas  which  they  do  not  believe  themselves.  They 
do  not  all  believe,  ex  animo,  the  distinctive  dogmas  of 
the  orthodox  creeds — that  God  is  angry  with  the  great 
body  of  mankind,  that  his  wrath  is  a  burning  flame, 
and  that  there  is,  as  to  a  majority  of  men,  but  a  mo- 
ment's time  and  a  point  of  space  between  them  and 
eternal  torture  more  terrible  than  imagination  can  con- 
ceive or  language  describe.  It  is  well  said  that  "  Actions 
speak  louder  than  words  ;"  and  we  need  only  ask  the 
question,  "  Do  ministers  who  profess  to  believe  these 
horrible  dogmas  preach  as  if  they  really  believed 
them  ?"  Notice  the  general  deportment  of  the  clergy 
at  the  summer  resort,  at  the  seaside,  or  on  the  mountain- 
top,  and  say  whether  they  can  possibly  believe  what 
for  eight  or  nine  months  they  have  been  preaching  in 
their  now  closed  churches.  Listen  to  the  private  con- 
versation of  our  evangelists  at  the  camp-meeting  or  at 
the  meetings  of  ecclesiastical  bodies,  and  then  conclude, 
if  you  can,  that  they  believe  what  they  teach. 

Take,  if  you  please,  the  case  of  one  of  our  best- 
known  evangelical  ministers,  a  member  of  the  strictest 
of  our  orthodox  sects,  who  spends  a  large  propor- 
tion of  his  time  in  studying  the  ways  of  insects,  and 
who  would  chase  a  pismire  across  the  continent  to 
find  out  its  habits.  Can  a  pastor  believe  in  his  heart 
the  dogmas  of  the  Westminster  Confession,  and  yet 
devote  so  much  time  to  ants  ?  It  is  impossible.  He 
may  deceive  himself;  he  cannot  deceive  others. 

4th.  Our  fourth  article  ,of  impeachment  under  the 


46  SKELETON  KEYS. 

general  charge  is,  that  the  pulpit  is  the  great  promoter 
of  skepticism  called  infidelity,  in  that  it  insists  upon 
the  belief  of  dogmas  which  are  absurd  upon  their 
face,  such  as  the  miraculous  conception  of  Jesus,  the 
dogma  of  the  Trinity,  the  origin  and  fall  of  man, 
vicarious  atonement,  predestination,  election  and  repro- 
bation, eternal  torture  for  the  majority,  and  many  other 
absurdities  which  no  rational  mind  can  now  consist- 
ently accept. 

True,  these  dogmas  may  be  found  in  the  Bible ; 
and  when  men  are  told  with  weekly  reiterations  that 
the  Bible  is  purely  divine,  supernatural,  and  infallible, 
and  they  find  that  it  is  purely  human,  natural,  and 
very  fallible,  they  cannot  believe  the  Bible,  though 
they  find  many  inspiring  and  helpful  things  in  it. 
When  ministers  tell  thinking  men  that  they  must  be- 
lieve all  or  reject  all,  they  accept  the  foolish  alternative 
and  reject  all.  And  so  it  might  be  further  shown 
how,  in  very  many  ways,  the  pulpit  is  the  great  pro- 
moter of  skepticism  and  infidelity,  and  that  the  pro- 
fessed teachers  of  religion  are  its  greatest  enemies,  its 
most  effective  clogs  and  successful  antagonists.  No 
wonder  that  the  most  thoughtful  and  intelligent  men 
and  women  in  every  community  have  drifted  away 
from  the  popular  faith,  and  are  anxiously  inquiring, 
What  next? 

President  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  writing  to  Timothy 
Pickering,  well  said : 

"The  religion-builders  have  so  distorted  and  de- 
formed  the  doctrines  of  Jesus,  so  muffled  them  in 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  47 

mysticisms,  fancies  and  falsehoods,  have  caricatured 
them  into  forms  so  monstrous  and  inconceivable,  as  to 
shock  reasonable  thinkers  to  revolt  them  against  the 
whole,  and  drive  them  rashly  to  pronounce  its  founder 
an  impostor."  Writing  to  Dr.  Cooper,  he  said  :  "  My 
opinion  is  that  there  would  never  have  been  an  infidel  if 
there  had  never  been  a  priest." 

We  would  not  abolish  the  office,  or,  if  you  please,  the 
profession,  oi public  moral  teacher,  but  we  would  banish 
from  the  world  the  caste  idea,  the  holy-order  pretence. 
When  simple-minded  young  men  and  grave  and  sur- 
pliced  bishops  talk  about  taking  "  holy  orders,"  sensi- 
ble and  thoughtful  men  know  that  they  are  talking 
holy  nonsense.  No  man  has  a  right  to  assume  that  he 
is  more  holy  than  other  men,  or  that  he  has  authority 
to  exercise  religious  functions  that  other  men  have  not. 

Nor  have  we  any  objection  that  moral  teachers  should 
be  paid  for  their  services  as  other  teachers  are  paid ; 
but  when  educated  men  can  afford  to  teach  without 
pecuniary  compensation,  we  think  it  would  be  well  for 
them  to  do  so ;  and  when  the  teacher  of  morals  adopts 
the  example  of  St.  Paul,  "working  with  his  own 
hands  "  and  "  living  in  his  own  hired  house,"  we  think 
the  world  will  be  the  better  for  it.  Let  us  hope  that 
the  day  will  soon  dawn  when  clergymen  will  consider 
themselves  moral  teachers  only,  and  for  ever  repudiate 
the  false  pretence  of  special  authority  and  priestly 
sanctimoniousness,  and  clearly  understand  that  medi- 
ocrity and  stupidity  will  not  much  longer  be  tolerated 
because  of  the  so-called  sacredness  of  a  profession. 


48  SKELETON  KEYS. 

That  the  estimate  here  made  of  sacerdotalists  may 
not  seem  extreme  and  unjustifiable,  I  add  the  testi- 
mony of  one  of  the  most  honored  ecclesiastics  of  the 
Established  Church  of  England,  Canon  Farrar,  who 
in  a  recent  sermon  on  priestcraft  said :  "  In  all  ages 
the  exclusive  predominance  of  priests  has  meant  the 
indifference  of  the  majority  and  the  subjection  of  the 
few.  It  has  meant  the  slavery  of  men  who  will  not 
act,  and  the  indolence  of  men  who  will  not  think,  and 
the  timidity  of  men  who  will  not  resist,  and  the  indif- 
ference of  men  who  do  not  care."  Alas  that  "  holy 
hands  "  should  so  often  be  laid  "  upon  skulls  that  can- 
not teach  and  will  not  learn  "  ! 

Let  me  here  quote  from  Professor  Huxley  an  ad- 
mirable statement  of  the  facts  in  the  case: 

"  Everywhere  have  they  (sacerdotalists)  broken  the 
spirit  of  wisdom  and  tried  to  stop  human  progress  by 
quotations  from  their  Bibles'  or  books  of  their  saints. 
In  this  nineteenth  century,  as  at  the  dawn  of  modern 
physical  science,  the  cosmogony  of  the  serai-barbarous 
Hebrew  is  the  incubus  of  the  philosopher  and  the 
opprobrium  of  the  orthodox.  Who  shall  number  the 
patient  and  earnest  seekers  after  truth,  from  the  days 
of  Galileo  until  now,  whose  lives  have  been  embittered 
and  their  good  name  blasted  by  the  mistaken  zeal  of 
bibliolaters?  Who  shall  count  the  host  of  weaker 
men  whose  sense  of  truth  has  been  destroyed  in  the 
effort  to  harmonize  impossibilities ;  whose  life  has  been 
wasted  in  the  attempt  to  force  the  generous  new  wine 
of  science  into  the  old  bottles  of  Judaism,  compelled 


SACERDOTALISM  IMPEACHED.  49 

by  the  outcry  of  the  same  strong  party  ?  It  is  true 
that  if  philosophers  have  suffered,  their  cause  has  been 
amply  avenged.  Extinguished  theologies  lie  about  the 
cradle  of  every  science  as  the  strangled  snakes  beside 
that  of  Hercules ;  and  history  records  that  whenever 
science  and  orthodoxy  have  been  fairly  opposed,  the 
latter  has  been  forced  to  retire  from  the  lists,  bleeding 
and  crushed  if  not  annihilated,  scotched  if  not  slain. 
But  orthodoxy  learns  not,  neither  can  it  forget;  and 
though  at  present  bewildered  and  afraid  to  move,  it  is 
as  willing  as  ever  to  insist  that  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  contains  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  sound 
science,  and  to  visit  with  such  petty  thunderbolts  as  its 
half-paralyzed  hands  can  hurl  those  who  refuse  to 
degrade  nature  to  the  level  of  primitive  Judaism." 
"  Religion,"  he  also  elsewhere  writes,  "  arising  like  all 
other  knowledge  out  of  the  action  and  interaction  of 
man's  mind,  has  taken  the  intellectual  coverings  of 
Fetishism,  Polytheism,  of  Theism  or  Atheism,  of  Su- 
perstition or  Rationalism ;  and  if  the  religion  of  the 
present  differs  from  that  of  the  past,  it  is  because  the 
theology  of  the  present  has  become  more  scientific  than 
that  of  the  past ;  not  because  it  has  renounced  idols  of 
wood  and  idols  of  stone,  but  it  begins  to  see  the  necess- 
ity of  breaking  in  pieces  the  idols  built  up  of  books  and 
traditions  and  fine-sj)un  ecclesiastical  cobwebs,  and  of 
cherishing  the  noblest  and  most  human  of  man's  emo- 
tions by  worship,  *  for  the  most  part  of  the  silent  sort,' 
at  the  altar  of  the  unknown  and  unknoicable"  .  .  .  "If 
a  man  asks  me  what  the  politics  of  the  inhabitants  of 
4 


50  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  moon  are,  and  I  reply  that  I  know  not,  that  neither 
I  nor  any  one  else  have  any  means  of  knowing,  and 
that  under  these  circumstances  I  decline  to  trouble  my- 
self about  the  subject  at  all,  I  do  not  think  he  has  any 
right  to  call  me  a  skeptic."  Again  :  "  What  are  among 
the  moral  convictions  most  fondly  held  by  barbarous 
and  semi-barbarous  people?  They  are  the  convictions 
that  authority  is  the  soundest  basis  of  belief;  that 
merit  attaches  to  a  readiness  to  believe ;  that  the  doubt- 
ing disposition  is  a  bad  one,  and  skepticism  a  sin ;  and 
there  are  many  excellent  persons  who  still  hold  by 
these  principles."  ..."  Yet  we  have  no  reason  to 
believe  that  it  is  the  improvement  of  our  faith  nor  that 
of  our  morals  which  keeps  the  plague  from  our  city ; 
but  it  is  the  improvement  of  our  natural  knowledge. 
We  have  learned  that  pestilences  will  only  take  up 
their  abode  among  those  who  have  prepared  unswept 
and  ungarnished  residences  for  them.  Their  cities 
must  have  narrow,  un watered  streets  full  of  accumu- 
lated garbage;  their  houses  must  be  ill-drained,  ill- 
ventilated  ;  their  subjects  must  be  ill-lighted,  ill-washed, 
ill-fed,  ill-clothed;  the  London  of  1665  was  such  a 
city ;  the  cities  of  the  East,  where  plague  has  an  endur- 
ing dwelling,  are  such  cities ;  we  in  later  times  have 
learned  somewhat  of  Nature,  and  partly  obey  her. 
Because  of  this  partial  improvement  of  our  natural 
knowledge,  and  that  of  fractional  obedience,  we  have 
no  plague ;  but  because  that  knowledge  is  very  imper- 
fect and  that  obedience  yet  incomplete,  typhus  is  our 
companion  and  cholera  our  visitor." 


CHAPTER  III. 
TJSE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM. 

"  Not  giving  heed  to  Jewish  fables." — Tit.  1 :  14. 

"  Neither  give  heed  to  fables." — 1  Tim.  1 :  4. 

"  But  refuse  profane  and  old  wives'  fables." — 1  Tim.  4 :  7. 

It  is  impossible  to  understand  modern  Christian 
ecclesiasticism  without  a  careful  study  of  ancient  Juda- 
ism. It  is  reported  that  Jesus  himself  said,  "  Salvation 
is  of  the  Jews."  The  gospel  was  to  be  preached  "  to  the 
Jews  first."  The  common  belief  to-day  is,  that  the 
Christian  Church  represents  the  substance  of  what 
Judaism  was  the  promise,  and  that  the  New  Testament 
contains  the  fulfilment  and  realization  of  what  was 
foreshadowed  in  the  Old  Testament. 

All  well-informed  theologians  understand  that  the 
Christian  Church  is  held  to  have  had  its  origin  in 
what  is  denominated  the  "  call  of  Abraham,"  and  that 
what  is  known  in  orthodox  parlance  as  the  "  Abrahamic 
covenant "  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  orthodox  theory 
of  grace  and  of  all  other  systems  of  doctrine  falsely 
designated  as  evangelical.  It  is  a  suggestive  fact  that 
while  Christians  hold  that  their  religion  is  the  very 
quintessence  and  outcome  of  Judaism,  they  most  cor- 
dially hate  the  Jews,  and  the  Jews  in  return,  have  a 
supreme  contempt  for  Christians  and  stoutly  deny  the 
relationship  of  parent  and  child. 

51 


62  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Now  that  the  descent  of  the  Jews  from  the  Chaldean 
Abram,  whom  they  affect  to  call  their  father,  is  dis- 
credited by  all  scholars  who  reject  the  inspirational  and 
infallible  theory  of  the  Old  Testament,  it  is  very  dif- 
ficult to  find  out  the  real  origin  of  this  strange  people. 
All  modern  writers  on  Jews  and  Judaism  admit  that 
outside  of  the  Old  Testament  there  is  little  or  no  his- 
tory of  the  Jews  down  to  the  time  of  Alexander,  and 
that  there  is  very  little  reliable  history  even  in  the 
collection  of  books  known  as  the  Hebrew  Scriptures. 
It  cannot  be  doubted  now  that  the  Pentateuch,  im- 
properly called  the  five  books  of  Moses,  was  mostly 
written  after  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  their  captivity 
in  Babylon,  about  638  b.  c,  and  what  is  found  in  these 
books  mainly  corresponds  with  the  religion  and  liter- 
ature of  the  Assyrians,  and  was  learned  during  their 
sojourn  in  that  country,  and  not,  as  has  ignorantly 
been  supposed,  from  the  mythical  Abram,  the  reputed 
immigrant  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  What  is  recorded 
in  the  Pentateuch,  not  being  mentioned  in  other  Old- 
Testament  writings,  shows  that  such  records  had  no 
existence  when  those  books  were  written,  and  therefore 
could  have  no  recognition.  It  will  be  shown  hereafler 
that  there  is  little  or  nothing  in  the  Pentateuch  that  is 
strictly  original,  much  less  strictly  historical.  Indeed, 
the  tales  of  the  Old  Testament  generally  were  written 
for  a  religious  or  patriotic  purpose,  with  little  regard 
for  time,  place,  or  historical  accuracy.  Persons,  real  or 
mythical,  are  often  used  to  represent  different  tribes, 
while  allegory  is  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception  in 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.       53 

what  is  ignorantly  accepted  as  history.  This  is  ad- 
mitted by  many  eminent  Christian  writers. 

The  word  "Jew"  first  occurs  in  2  Kings  16  :  6  to 
denote  the  inhabitants  of  Judea,  but  they  should 
properly  have  been  called  "  Judeans."  The  very 
name  Jew  is  probably  mythological,  derived  from 
Jeoud,  the  name  of  the  only  son  of  Saturn,  though, 
like  Abraham,  he  had  several  other  sons.  It  cannot 
be  doubted  that  the  stories  of  Saturn  and  Abraham 
are  slightly  varied  versions  of  the  same  fable. 

The  Jews  never  deserved  to  be  called  a  nation,  at 
least  not  until  in  comparatively  modern  times.  They 
were  inclined  from  the  first  to  mingle  with  and  inter- 
marry with  other  peoples,  and  so  became  mongrels  at 
an  early  period. 

There  was  no  race  distinction,  we  are  told,  between 
the  Canaanites,  Idumeans,  and  Israelites.  Ishmael 
married  an  Egyptian  woman,  and  so  did  Joseph,  the 
son  of  Jacob.  Esau  married  a  daughter  of  Ishmael, 
also  two  other  women,  called  daughters  of  Canaan,  one 
a  Hittite  and  the  other  a  Hivite.  Judah  and  Simeon 
each  married  Canaanites.  We  read  in  Judges  3  :  5,  6, 
"  The  children  of  Israel  dwelt  among  the  Canaanites, 
Hittites,  and  Amorites,  and  Perizzites,  and  Hivites, 
and  Jebusites ;  and  they  took  their  daughters  to  be 
their  wives,  and  gave  their  [own]  daughters  to  their 
sons,  and  served  their  gods." 

In  Ezekiel  16th  it  is  written  :  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God  unto  Jerusalem,  Thy  birth  and  thy  nativity  was 
in  the  land  of  Canaan ;  thy  father  was  an  Amorite  and 


54  SKELETON  KEYS. 

thy  mother  an  Hittite ;"  "  Your  mother  was  an  Hittite 
and  your  father  an  Amorite — thine  elder  sister,  Samaria, 
and  thy  youngest  sister,  Sodom." 

In  Deut.  7  :  7  the  Jews  are  told,  "  The  Lord  did  not 
set  his  love  upon  you  because  ye  were  more  in  number 
than  any  other  people,  for  ye  were  fewest  of  all  people." 
In  Josh.  12:  24  they  are  reminded  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  "send  them  hornets  which  drove  them  (the 
Canaanites)  out  before  you,  even  the  two  kings  of  the 
Amorites;"  and  in  Ex.  23  :  28,  29  it  is  said,  "  I  will 
send  hornets  before  thee  which  shall  drive  out  the 
Hivite,  the  Canaanite,  and  the  Hittite  from  before 
thee.  I  will  not  drive  them  out  from  before  thee  in 
one  year,  lest  the  land  become  desolate  and  the  beasts 
of  the  field  multiply  against  thee."  This  does  not 
look  as  if  the  Jews  were  very  numerous  or  valorous 
in  the  little  territory  not  much  larger  than  the  State 
of  Connecticut. 

Josephus  makes  certain  notes  to  show  that  the  Lace- 
demonians claimed  original  kinship  with  the  Jews,  and 
some  writers  make  the  same  claim  for  the  Afghans  and 
several  other  peoples.  Nothing  is  more  certain,  in  my 
judgment,  than  that  the  Jews  are  the  most  thoroughly 
mongrel  race  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  That  they 
have  certain  idiosyncrasies  in  common,  and  even  cer- 
tain distinguishing  facial  and  other  physical  marks, 
can  easily  be  accounted  for  on  other  grounds  than  the 
assumption  of  unity  of  race. 

The  common  story  of  the  origin  of  the  Jews  is  cer- 
tainly fabulous.     Major-General  Forlong,  of  the  Brit- 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        55 

tish  Army,  says  :  "  They  were  probably  in  the  begin- 
ning a  wandering  tribe  of  Bedouin  Arabs  who  'got 
possession  of  the  rocky  parts  of  Palestine,  which  were 
never  made  better  by  their  presence.  They  are  a  com- 
paratively modern  people.  The  first  notice  of  Jews  is 
possibly  that  of  certain  Shemitic  rulers  in  the  Aram 
paying  tribute  about  850  b.  c.  to  Vul-Nirari,  the 
successor  of  Shalmaneser  of  Syria  ;  regarding  which, 
however,  much  more  is  made  by  biblicists  than  the 
simple  record  warrants.  This  is  the  case  also  where 
Champollion  affirms  that  mention  is  made  on  the 
Theban  temples  of  the  capture  of  certain  towns  of  the 
land  we  call  Judsea,  this  being  thought  to  prove  the 
existence  of  Jews.  Similar  assumption  takes  place  in 
regard  to  the  hieratic  papyri  of  the  Leyden  Museum, 
held  to  belong  to  the  time  of  Rameses  II.,  an  inscrip- 
tion read  on  the  rocks  of  El-Haraamat,  and  the  dis- 
covery of  some  names  like  Chedorlaomer  in  the  records 
of  Babylonia ;  but  this  is  all  the  (so-called)  evidence 
as  to  the  existence  of  ancient  Jews  which  has  been 
advanced ;  and  the  most  is  made  of  it  in  Dr.  Birch's 
opening  address  on  the  Progress  of  Biblical  Archceology 
at  the  inauguration  of  the  Archaeological  Society.  Of 
Jews  we  hear  nothing  during  all  the  Thothmik  wars, 
unless  they  be  included  among  the  phallic-worshipping 
Hermonites  who  were  mentioned  as  inhabiting  the 
highlands  of  Syria.  We  have  no  real  historical 
evidence  of  the  persons  or  kingdoms  of  David  or 
Solomon,  though  we  may  grant  the  Jewish  stories  cum 
grano  sails,  seeing  how  outrageously  they  have  always 


56  SKELETON  KEYS. 

exaggerated  in  everything  pertaining  to  their  own 
glorification. 

"  The  only  logical  conclusion  justifiable  when  we  give 
up  the  inspiration  theory  is,  that  Arabs  and  Syro- 
Phoenicians  were  known  to  Assyrians  and  Egyptians, 
and  this  none  would  deny.  Indeed,  we  readily  grant, 
with  Dr.  Birch,  that  under  the  nineteenth  and  twen- 
tieth Egyptian  dynasties  the  influence  of  the  Aramaean 
nations  is  distinctly  marked ;  that  not  only  by  blood 
and  alliances  had  the  Pharaohs  been  closely  united 
with  the  princes  of  Palestine  and  Syria,  but  that  the 
language  of  the  period  abounds  in  Semitic  words  quite 
diiFerent  from  the  Egyptian,  with  which  they  were 
embroidered  and  intermingled.  Could  it  possibly  be 
otherwise  ?  Is  it  not  so  to  this  day  ?  Is  a  vast  and 
rapidly-spawning  Shemitic  continent  like  Arabia  not 
to  influence  the  narrow  delta  of  a  river  adjoining  it  or 
the  wild  highlands  of  Syria  to  the  north  ?  Of  course 
Arabs  or  Shemites  were  everywhere  spread  over  Egypt, 
Syria,  and  Phoenicia,  as  well  as  in  their  ancient  seats 
of  empire  in  Arabia,  Irak  (Kaldia),  and  on  the  im- 
perial mounds  of  Kalneh  and  Koyunjik ;  but  not 
necessarily  as  Jews,  I  cannot  find  that  these  last  were 
anything  more  than  a  j^eculiar  religious  sect  of  Arabs 
who  settled  down  from  their  pristine  nomadic  habits 
and  obtained  a  quasi  government  under  petty  princes 
or  sheiks,  such  as  we  have  seen  take  place  in  the  case 
of  numerous  Arabian  and  Indian  sects. 

"  Only  about  two  hundred  years  or  so  after  their  re- 
turn from  Babylon  did  the  Jews  seem  to  consolidate 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.       57 

into  a  nation,  and  the  collection  and  translation  of 
their  old  mythic  records — deciphered  with  much  dif- 
ficulty by  the  diligent  librarians  of  Ptolemy  Philadel- 
phus  from  "  old  shreds  and  scraps  of  leather " — no 
doubt  materially  aided  in  consolidating  the  people  and 
in  welding  them  into  what  they  became — clans  proud 
of  a  sort  of  a  mythic  history  built  up  by  Ezra  and 
other  men  acquainted  with  Babylonian  records  and 
popular  cosmogonies." 

No  efforts,  say  the  leaders  of  the  Biblical  Archaeo- 
logical Society,  have  been  able  to  find  either  amidst 
the  numerous  engravings  on  the  rocks  of  Arabia  Petrea 
or  Palestine,  any  save  Phcenidan  inscriptions;  not 
even  a  record  of  the  Syro-Hebrew  character,  which 
was  once  thought  to  be  the  peculiar  property  of  He- 
brews. Most  of  those  inscriptions  hitherto  discovered 
do  not  date  anterior  to  the  Roman  empire.  Few,  if 
any,  monuments  (of  Jews)  have  been  found  in  Palestine 
or  the  neighboring  countries  of  any  useful  antiquity 
save  the  Moabite  Stone,  and  the  value  of  this  last  is 
all  in  favor  of  my  previous  arguments  on  these  points. 
At  the  pool  of  Siloam  we  have  an  "  inscription  in  the 
Phoenician  character  as  old  as  the  time  of  the  Kings ; 
...  it  is  incised  upon  the  walls  of  a  rock-chamber 
apparently  dedicated  to  Baal,  who  is  mentioned  on  it. 
So  that  here,  in  a  most  holy  place  of  this  peculiar 
people,  we  find  only  Phoenicians,  and  these  worshipping 
the  Sun-god  of  Fertility,  as  was  customary  on  every 
coast  of  Europe  from  unknown  times  down  to  the  rise 
of  Christianity." 


68  SKELETON  KEYS. 

The  Biblical  Archaeological  Society  and  British 
Museum  authorities  tell  us  frankly  and  clearly  that  no 
Hebrew  square  character  can  be  proved  to  exist  till 
after  the  Babylonian  captivity,  and  that,  at  all  events, 
this  inscription  of  Siloam  shows  "  that  the  curved  or 
Phoenician  character  was  in  use  in  Jerusalem  itself 
under  the  Hebrew  monarchy,  as  well  as  the  conter- 
minous Phoenicia,  Moabitis,  and  the  more  distant 
Assyria.  No  monument,  indeed,"  continues  Dr.  Birch, 
"  of  greater  antiquity  inscribed  in  the  square  character 
(Hebrew)  has  been  found  as  yet  older  than  the 
FIFTH  CENTURY  A.  D.  [the  small  capitals  are  mine], 
and  the  coins  of  the  Maccabean  princes,  as  well  as 
those  of  the  revolter  Barcochab,  are  impressed  with 
Samaritan  characters.  So  that  here  we  have  the  most 
complete  confirmation  of  all  that  I  assert  as  to  the 
mythical  history  of  a  Judean  people  prior  to  a  century 
or  so  B.  c,  and  even  then  only  under  such  a  govern- 
ment as  Babylonian  administrators  had  taught  them  to 
form  and  the  lax  rule  of  the  Seleukidse,  followed  by  in- 
termittent Roman  government,  permitted  of." 

Another  modern  writer  says  :  "  Soon  after  the  death 
of  Alexander  the  Jews  first  came  into  notice  under 
Ptolemy  I.  of  Egypt,  and  some  of  their  books  were 
collected  at  the  new-built  city  of  Alexandria." 

Such  was  the  insignificance  of  the  Jews  as  a  people 
that  the  historical  monuments  preceding  the  time  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  who  died  323  years  b.  c,  make 
not  the  slightest  mention  of  any  Jewish  transaction. 
The  writings  of  Thales,  Solon,  Pythagoras,  Democritus, 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        59 

Plato,  Herodotus,  and  Xenophon,  all  of  whom  visited 
remote  countries,  contain  no  mention  of  the  Jews  what- 
ever. Neither  Homer  nor  Aristotle,  the  preceptor  of 
Alexander,  makes  any  mention  of  them.  The  story 
of  Josephus,  that  Alexander  visited  Jerusalem,  has 
been  proved  to  be  a  fabrication.  Alexander's  histo- 
rians say  nothing  about  it.  He  did  pass  through  the 
coast  of  Palestine,  and  the  only  resistance  he  encoun- 
tered was  at  Gaza,  which  was  garrisoned  by  Persians 
(Wyttenbach's  Opuseula,  vol.  ii.  pp.  416,  421). 

For  half  a  century  after  its  destruction,  says  Dr. 
Robinson,  there  is  no  mention  of  Jerusalem  in  history ; 
and  even  until  the  time  of  Constantine  its  history 
presents  little  more  than  a  blank  (vol.  i.  pp.  367,  371). 

General  Forlong  says  :  "  The  area  of  Judea  and  Sa- 
maria is,  according  to  the  above  authority,  140  X  40  = 
5600  square  miles,  which  I  think  is  certainly  one-fourth 
too  much,  my  own  triangulation  of  it  giving  only  4500, 
or  a  figure  of  about  130  X  35.  I  will,  however,  con- 
cede the  allotment  of  5600,  but  we  must  remember 
that,  as  a  rule,  the  whole  is  a  dismal,  rocky,  arid  region, 
with  only  intersecting  valleys,  watered  by  springs  and 
heavy  rain  from  November  to  February  inclusive,  and 
having  scorching  heats  from  April  to  September. 
Even  the  inhabitable  portions  of  the  country  could 
only  support  the  very  sparsest  population,  and  I  speak 
after  having  marched  over  it  and  also  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  In  India  we  should 
look  upon  it  as  a  very  poor  province ;  in  some  respects 
very  like  the  hilly  tracts  of  Mewar  or  Odeypoor  in 


60  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Rajpootana,  but  in  extent,  population,  and  wealth  it  is 
less  than  that  small  principality. 

"  The  chief  importance  of  Palestine  in  ancient  his- 
tory was  due  to  its  lying  on  the  high-road  between  the 
great  kingdoms  of  Egypt,  Babylon,  and  Assyria,  and 
as  giving  the  Arabs  a  hiding-  and  abiding-place  which 
they — Jews  included — could  not  obtain  if  they  ven- 
tured out  on  the  plains  south  and  east.  The  holes  and 
fastnesses  of  the  hills  were  their  safeguards,  and,  as 
they  assure  us,  very  much  used  indeed.  The  Jewish 
strip  is  divided  into  Samaria  as  a  centre,  with  Galilee 
north  and  Judea  south,  giving  to  the  two  former  eight- 
tenths,  and  the  latter  two-tenths ;  that  is,  two  tribes ; 

,     X   .                      , ,  ,      ,          5600  X  2 
so  that  the  Judean  area  would  be  about ttv = 

,      5600  X  8 
1120  square  miles,  agamst  the jk =  4480  to 

the  latter ;  and  the  population  would  be  somewhat  in 
this  proportion,  for  the  extreme  barrenness  of  all  the 
country  south  and  east  of  Jerusalem  would  be  in  some 
degree  made  up  for  by  this  town  being  perhaps  a  little 
larger  than  those  in  the  north. 

"  We  are  thus  prepared  to  state  the  population  of 
the  entire  land  in  terms  of  its  area,  as  was  done  for 
the  Judean  capital,  and  with  equally  startling  results. 
The  whole  Turkish  empire  yields  at  present  less  than 
twenty-four  persons  to  the  square  mile,  and  in  the  wild 
and  warring  ages  we  are  here  concerned  with  we  may 
safely  say  that  there  were  less  than  twenty  per  square 
mile,  of  which  half  were  females  and  one-third  of  the 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.       61 

other  half  children  and  feeble  persons,  unable  to  take 
the  field  whether  for  war  or  agriculture.  The  result 
is  disastrous  to  much  biblical  matter,  and  far-reaching ; 
upsetting  the  mighty  armies  of  Joshua  and  the  Judges, 
no  less  than  those  of  David  and  Solomon,  who  are 
thought  for  a  few  short  years  to  have  united  the  tribes  : 
nay,  the  stern  facts  of  figures  destroy  all  the  subsequently 
divided  kings  or  petty  chiefs  who  lasted  down  to  the 
sixth  century  or  so  b.  c,  and  show  us  that  Jews  have 
ever  been  insignificant  in  the  extreme,  especially  when 
compared  with  the  great  peoples  who  generally  ruled 
them,  and  far  and  wide  around  them. 

The  total  population  was  probably  about     5600  x  20  =  112,000 
Deduct  one-half  as  females,  56,000 

Deduct  one  third  as  males  under 

fifteen  and  over  fifty  (see  Kaw- 

linson's  estimate  of  the  available 

56,000 
male  strength  of  Persia) — ^ — =18,670  74,670 

Balance  of  males  available  from 
all  the  tribes  for  the  purposes  of 
government,  37,330 

So  that  this  paltry  thirty  thousand  to  forty  thousand 
is  the  very  most  which  the  twelve  tribes  could,  and 
only  for  these  few  years,  bring  to  the  front.  In  gen- 
eral, the  tribes  warred  with  one  another  and  with  their 
neighbors,  so  that,  for  the  purposes  of  foreign  war,  the 
Jewish  race  represented  only  two  or  three  tribes  at  a 
time,  or,  say,  ten  thousand  able  men.  Thus  one  tribe 
— as,  for  example,  Judah — would  have  only  from  three 


62  SKELETON  KEYS. 

thousand  to  four  thousand  men  in  all,  supposing  every 
man  left  his  fields  and  home  to  fight,  while  Assyrian 
armies  not  unusually  numbered  one  hundred  thousand 
to  two  hundred  thousand  men." 

In  the  above  statistics  also  we  have  taken  a  greater 
area  than  I  think  the  tribes  occupied.  There  is  not  a 
sign  of  a  Jewish  people  till  about  what  is  called  their 
"  Eastern  Captivity,"  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Rodwell  writes 
in  the  Trans,  of  the  Biblical  Archceological  Society  that 
^*  the  Hebrew  of  the  Bible  is  no  other  than  a  dialectic 
variety  of  the  Canaanitish  or  Phoenician  tongue  ex- 
pressed in  the  Chaldean  character,  not  brought,  as  has 
been  taught,  by  Abram  himself  from  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  but  adopted  by  the  Israelites  during  their 
long  captivities."  "  Could  it  possibly  be  otherwise  when 
we  look  at  the  facts  ?  The  Jews  were  a  poor,  ignorant, 
weak  Arab  tribe,  living  on  the  outskirts  of  a  land 
occupied  for  long  ages  previously  by  the  most  famous 
race  of  all  antiquity — a  people  from  whom  Greece, 
Rome,  and  Carthage  alike  borrowed  the  ideas  of  their 
earliest  art  and  architecture.  Homer  called  this  race 
Phens,  Poludaidaloi — 'artists  of  varied  skill,'  and  later 
Romans  prized  them  above  all  others  for  their  con- 
structive talent.  Pliny,  Seneca,  and  Varro  praise  them 
in  words  which  will  never  die ;  Jews  said  that  David 
solicited  their  skilled  labor,  and  that  Solomon's  temple, 
small  and  simple  though  it  was,  could  not  be  raised 
without  their  help ;  nay,  though  Ezra  says  he  had 
these  ensamples  before  him,  and  had  seen  all  the  fine 
buildings  of  Babylon,  yet  he  too  had  to  solicit  their 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        63 

aid,  else  the  walls  of  the  city  of  Jehovah  and  Zerub- 
babel's  second  shrine  could  never  have  been  constructed. 
In  all  arts,  trades,  and  manufactures  this  extraordinary 
people  excelled  every  ancient  race,  and  from  the  very 
earliest  times  down  and  into  the  Roman  period.  Is  it 
surprising,  then,  that  their  language  and  customs  pre- 
vailed wherever  their  skilled  aid  was  required  ?  that 
Africa  in  its  writing  was  no  less  Punic — that  is, 
Phoenician — than  Libyan,  guided  by  these  wondrous 
Pheni  or  "  Tyrii  bilingues  "  ?  The  history  of  Britain 
during  some  past  generations  as  the  first  great  manufac- 
turing country  of  modern  times  shows  how  civilization, 
power,  and  progress  must  ever  follow  industry  and 
usefulness,  and  Phoenicians  to  a  great  extent  in  early 
days  controlled  'the  sinews  of  war'  where  this  was 
their  interest ;  but  it  too  often  proved  more  profitable 
to  deal  in  swords  and  helmets  than  in  '  Tyrian  purple ' 
and  costly  brocade  stuffs.  Manufacturers  are  not  much 
given  to  writing,  and  these  Pheni  have  been  so  parsi- 
monious in  their  vowels  and  lavish  and  indifferent  in 
the  use  of  6's,  d's,  /s,  and  s's  that  few  philological 
students  hnve  attempted  the  translation  of  Phoenician 
writings,  though  Phoenician,  and  not  Hebrew,  is  what 
alone  we  find  traces  of  in  Syria  and  Palestine." 

It  has  been  substantially  said  by  William  Henry 
Burr,  in  a  work  not  now  in  the  market,  that  "  very 
erroneous  ideas  prevail  in  regard  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  nation  and  country  of  the  Jews  and  their  import- 
ance in  history.  Most  maps  of  ancient  Palestine  assign 
far  too  much  territory  to  that  nation.     They  make  the 


64  SKELETON  KEYS. 

greatest  length  of  the  country  from  160  to  175  miles, 
and  its  greatest  breadth  from  70  to  90,  inclosing  an 
area  of  from  10,000  to  12,000  square  miles — a  little 
larger  than  the  State  of  Vermont.  They  not  only  in- 
clude the  entire  Mediterranean  coast  for  160  miles,  but 
a  considerable  mountain-tract  on  the  north,  above  Dan, 
and  a  portion  of  the  desert  on  the  south,  below  Beer- 
sheba,  besides  running  the  eastern  boundary  out  too 
far.  Moreover,  they  lengthen  the  distances  in  every 
direction.  From  Dan  to  Beersheba,  the  extreme  north- 
ern and  southern  towns,  the  distance  on  Mitchell's  map 
is  165  miles,  and  on  Colton's,  150;  but  on  a  map  ac- 
companying Biblical  Researches  in  Palestine,  by  Edward 
Robinson,  D.  D.,  which  is  one  of  the  most  recent  and 
elaborate,  and  will  doubtless  be  accepted  as  the  best 
authority,  the  distance  is  only  128  miles. 

"  Now,  the  Israelites  were  never  able  to  drive  out 
the  Canaanites  from  the  choicest  portion  of  the  country 
— the  Mediterranean  coast — nor  even  from  most  parts 
of  the  interior  (Judges  1  :  16-31  ;  1  Kings  9  :  20,  21). 
The  Phoenicians,  a  powerful  maritime  people,  occupied 
the  northern  portion  of  the  coast,  and  the  Philistines 
the  southern  ;  between  these  the  Jebusites  or  some  other 
people  held  control,  so  that  the  Israelites  were  excluded 
from  any  part  of  the  Mediterranean  shore.  The  map 
of  their  country  must  therefore  undergo  a  reduction 
of  a  strip  on  the  west  at  least  10  miles  wide  by  160 
long,  or  1600  square  miles.  A  further  reduction  must 
be  made  of  about  400  square  miles  for  the  Dead  Sea 
and  Lake  of  Tiberias.     This  leaves  at   most   9000 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.       65 

square  miles  by  Colton's  map.  But  on  this  map  the 
extreme  length  of  the  country  is  175  miles,  which  is 
47  miles  too  great :  for  the  whole  dominion  of  the  Jews 
extended  only  from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  which  Dr.  Rob- 
inson places  only  128  miles  apart.  We  must  therefore 
make  a  further  reduction  of  an  area  about  47  by  60 
miles,  or  2800  square  miles.  Then  we  must  take  off 
a  slice  on  the  east,  at  least  10  miles  broad  by  60  long, 
or  600  square  miles.  Thus  we  reduce  the  area  of  Col- 
ton's map  from  11,000  square  miles  to  5600 — a  little 
less  than  the  State  of  Connecticut. 

"  But  now,  if  we  subtract  from  this  what  was  wil- 
derness and  desert,  and  also  what  was  at  no  time  in- 
habited and  controlled  by  the  Israelites,  we  further 
reduce  their  habitable  territory  about  one-half.  The 
land  of  Canaan  being  nearly  all  mountainous  and 
bounded  on  the  south  and  east  by  a  vast  desert  which 
encroached  upon  the  borders  of  the  country,  a  great 
part  of  it  was  barren  wilderness.  Nor  did  but  one- 
fifth  of  the  Israelites  (two  and  a  half  tribes)  occupy 
the  country  east  of  the  Jordan,  which  was  almost  equal 
in  extent  to  that  on  the  west,  the  proper  Land  of 
Promise.  The  eastern  half,  therefore,  must  have  been 
but  thinly  populated  by  the  two  and  a  half  tribes,  who 
were  only  able  to  maintain  a  precarious  foothold  against 
the  bordering  enemies.  So,  then,  it  is  not  probable 
that  the  Israelites  actually  inhabited  and  governed  at 
any  time  a  territory  of  more  than  3000  square  miles, 
or  not  much  if  any  larger  than  the  little  State  of  Dela- 
ware.    At  all  events,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 

6 


66  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Delaware  contains  more  good  land  than  the  whole  coun- 
try of  the  Jews  ever  did. 

"  The  promise  to  Abraham  in  Gen.  15  :  18  is  '  from 
the  river  of  Egypt  to  the  river  Euphrates.'  But  the 
Jewish  possessions  never  reached  the  Nile  by  200  miles. 
In  Ex.  33  :  31  the  promise  is  renewed,  but  the  river  of 
Egypt  is  not  named.  The  boundaries  are  '  from  the 
Red  Sea  to  the  Sea  of  the  Philistines  (the  Mediter- 
ranean), and  from  the  desert  to  the  river.'  By  '  the 
river '  was  doubtless  meant  the  Euphrates ;  and  as- 
suming that  by  'the  desert'  was  meant  the  eastern 
boundary  (though  Canaan  was  bounded  on  the  south 
also  by  the  same  great  desert  which  reached  to  the 
Red  Sea),  we  have  in  this  promise  a  territory  600  miles 
long  by  an  average  of  about  180  broad,  making  an 
area  of  about  100,000  square  miles,  or  ten  times  as 
much  as  the  Jews  ever  could  claim,  and  nearly  one- 
half  of  it  uninhabitable.  So,  then,  the  promise  was 
never  fulfilled,  for  the  Israelites  were  confined  to  a  very 
small  central  portion  of  their  land  of  promise,  and 
whether  they  occupied  3000  or  12,000  square  miles  in 
the  period  of  their  greatest  power,  the  fact  is  not  to  be 
disputed  that  their  country  was  a  very  small  one. 

"  Lamartine  describes  the  journey  from  Bethany  to 
Jericho  as  singularly  toilsome  and  melancholy — neither 
houses  nor  cultivation,  mountains  without  a  shrub,  im- 
mense rocks  split  by  time,  pinnacles  tinged  with  colors 
like  those  of  an  extinct  volcano.  '  From  the  summit 
of  these  hills,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  we  see  only 
black  chains,  conical   or   broken  peaks,  a   boundless 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.       67 

labyrinth  of  passes  rent  through  the  mountains,  and 
those  ravines  lying  in  perfect  and  perpetual  stillness, 
without  a  stream,  without  a  wild  animal,  without  even 
a  flower,  the  relics  of  a  convulsed  land,  with  waves  of 
stone'  (vol.  ii.,  p.  146)." 

But  lest  it  may  be  thought  that  these  dismal  feat- 
ures are  due  to  modern  degeneracy,  let  us  take  the 
testimony  of  an  early  Christian  Father,  St.  Jerome, 
who  lived  a  long  time  in  Bethlehem,  four  miles  south  of 
Jerusalem.    In  the  year  414  he  wrote  to  Dardanus  thus  : 

"  I  beg  of  those  who  assert  that  the  Jewish  people 
after  coming  out  of  Egypt  took  possession  of  this 
country  (which  to  us,  by  the  passion  and  resurrection 
of  our  Saviour,  has  become  truly  the  land  of  promise), 
to  show  us  what  this  people  possessed.  Their  whole 
dominions  extended  only  from  Dan  to  Beersheba, 
hardly  160  Roman  miles  in  length  (147  geographical 
miles).  The  Scriptures  give  no  more  to  David  and 
Solomon,  except  what  they  acquired  by  alliance  after 
conquest.  ...  I  am  ashamed  to  say  what  is  the 
breadth  of  the  land  of  promise,  lest  I  should  thereby 
give  the  pagans  occasion  to  blaspheme.  It  is  but  47 
miles  (42  geographical  miles)  from  Joppa  to  our  little 
town  of  Bethlehem,  beyond  which  all  is  a  frightful 
desert "  (vol.  ii.,  p.  605). 

Elsewhere  he  describes  the  country  as  the  "refuse 
and  rubbish  of  nature."  He  says  that "  from  Jerusalem 
to  Bethlehem  there  is  nothing  but  stones,  and  in  the 
summer  the  inhabitants  can  scarcely  get  water  to 
drink." 


68  SKELETON  KEYS. 

"  In  the  year  1847,  Lieut.  Lynch  of  the  U.  S.  Navy 
was  sent  to  explore  the  river  Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea. 
He  and  his  party  with  great  difficulty  crossed  the 
country  from  Acre  to  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  with 
trucks  drawn  by  camels.  The  only  roads  from  time 
immemorial  were  mule-paths.  Frequent  detours  had 
to  be  made,  and  they  were  compelled  actually  to  make 
some  portions  of  their  road.  Even  then  the  last  de- 
clivity could  not  be  overcome  until  all  hands  turned 
out  and  hauled  the  boats  and  baggage  down  the  steep 
places ;  and  many  times  it  seemed  as  if,  like  the  ancient 
herd  of  swine,  they  would  all  rush  precipitately  into 
the  sea.  Over  three  days  were  required  to  make  the 
journey,  Avhich  in  a  straight  line  would  be  only  twenty- 
seven  miles.  For  the  first  few  miles  they  passed  over 
a  pretty  fertile  plain,  but  this  was  the  ancient  Phoenician 
country,  which  the  Jews  never  conquered.  The  rest 
of  the  route  was  mountainous  and  rocky,  with  not  a 
tree  visible  nor  a  house  outside  the  little  walled  villages 
(pp.  135  to  152). 

"  The  ancient  Sea  of  Galilee  has  a  prominent  place 
in  Jewish  geography  and  commerce,  yet  on  this  insig- 
nificant body  of  water,  twelve  miles  long  by  seven 
wide,  all  the  commerce  of  the  Jews  was  carried  on, 
except  when  they  had  the  use  of  a  port  on  the  Red 
Sea. 

"  In  a  book  entitled  TJie  Holy  Land,  Syria,  etc.,  by 
David  Roberts,  R.  A.  (London,  1855),  the  valley  of 
the  Jordan  is  thus  described : 

" '  A  large  portion  of  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  has 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        69 

been  from  the  earliest  time  almost  a  desert.  But  in  the 
northern  part  the  great  number  of  rivulets  which  de- 
scend from  the  mountains  on  both  sides  produce  in  many 
places  a  luxuriant  growth  of  wild  herbage.  So  too  in 
the  southern  part,  where  similar  rivulets  exist,  as  around 
Jericho,  there  is  even  an  exuberant  fertility ;  but  those 
rivulets  seldom  reach  the  Jordan  and  have  no  effect  on 
the  middle  of  the  Ghor.  The  mountains  on  each  side 
are  rugged  and  desolate,  the  western  cliffs  overhang- 
ing the  valley  at  an  elevation  of  1000  or  1200  feet, 
while  the  eastern  mountains  fall  back  in  ranges  of  from 
2000  to  2500  feet.' " 

What  was  the  size  of  ancient  Jerusalem  ?  We  know 
pretty  nearly  what  it  is  now  and  how  many  inhabitants 
it  contains.  It  is  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long  by 
half  a  mile  wide,  and  its  population  is  not  more  than 
11,500  {Biblical  Researches,  vol  i.,  p.  421),  a  large 
proportion  of  whom  are  drawn  thither  by  the  renown- 
ed sanctity  of  the  place.  Dr.  Robinson  measured  the 
wall  of  the  city,  and  found  it  to  be  only  12,978  feet  in 
circumference,  or  nearly  two  and  a  half  miles  (vol.  i., 
p.  268). 

"  In  a  book  entitled  An  Essay  on  the  Ancient  To- 
pography of  Jerusalem,  by  James  Fergusson  (London, 
1847),  a  diagram  is  given  of  the  walls  of  ancient  and 
modern  Jerusalem,  from  which  it  appears  that  the 
greatest  length  of  the  city  was  at  no  time  more  than 
6000  feet,  or  a  little  more  than  a  mile,  and  its  greatest 
width  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile;  while  the  real 
Jerusalem  of  old  was  but  a  little  more  than  a  quarter 


70  SKELETON  KEYS. 

that  size.     The  author  gives  the  area  of  the  different 
walled  enclosures  as  follows  (p.  52) : 

Area  of  the  old  city 513,000  yards. 

That  of  the  city  of  David 243,000 

Partial  total 756,^000 

That  enclosed  by  the  wall  of  Agrippa     .    .    .  1,456,000 

Grand  total 2,212,000 

"With  these  measurements  Mr.  Fergusson  under- 
takes to  estimate  the  probable  population  of  the  ancient 
city,  as  follows : 

" '  If  we  allow  the  inhabitants  of  the  first-named 
cities  fifty  yards  to  each  individual,  and  that  one-half 
of  the  new  city  was  inhabited  at  the  rate  of  one  person 
to  each  one  hundred  yards,  this  will  give  a  permanent 
population  of  23,000  souls.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
allow  only  thirty-three  yards  to  each  of  the  old  cities, 
and  admit  that  the  whole  of  the  new  was  as  densely 
populated  as  London,  or  allowing  one  hundred  yards 
to  each  inhabitant,  we  obtain  37,000  souls  for  the  whole  ; 
which  I  do  not  think  it  at  all  probable  that  Jerusalem 
ever  could  have  contained  as  a  permanent  population.' 

" '  In  another  part  of  the  book  (p.  47)  he  says : 
"  If  we  were  to  trust  Josephus,  he  would  have  us 
believe  that  Jerusalem  contained  at  one  time,  or  could 
contai'n,  two  and  a  half  or  three  millions  of  souls,  and 
that  at  the  siege  of  Titus  1,100,000  perished  by  famine 
and  the  sword,  97,000  were  taken  captive,  and  40,000 
allowed  by  Titus  to  go  free.' 

"  In  order  to  show  the  gross  exaggeration  of  these 
numbers,  he  cites  the  fact  that  the  army  of  Titus  did 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        71 

not  exceed,  altogether,  30,000,  and  that  Josephus  him- 
self enumerates  the  fighting-men  of  the  city  at  23,400, 
which  would  give  a  population  something  under 
100,000.  But  even  this  he  believes  to  be  an  exaggera- 
tion.    For,  says  he, 

" '  In  all  the  sallies  it  cannot  be  discovered  that  at 
any  time  the  Jews  could  bring  into  the  field  10,000 
men,  if  so  many.  .  .  .  Titus  enclosed  the  city  with  a 
line  four  and  a  half  miles  in  extent,  which,  with  his 
small  army,  was  so  weak  a  disposition  that  a  small  body 
of  the  Jews  could  easily  have  broken  through  it ;  but 
they  never  seem  to  have  had  numbers  sufiicient  to  be 
able  to  attempt  it.' 

"  The  author  guesses  that  the  Jews  might  have 
mustered  at  the  beginning  of  the  siege  about  10,000 
men,  and  that  the  city  might  have  contained  altogether 
about  40,000  inhabitants,  permanent  and  transient,  in 
a  space  which  in  no  other  city  in  the  world  could 
accommodate  30,000  souls.  But  the  wall  of  Agrippa 
was  built,  as  the  same  author  states,  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  after  the  Crucifixion ;  hence  prior  to  that  time 
the  area  of  Jerusalem  was  only  756,000  yards,  and  it 
was  capable  of  containing  only  23,000  inhabitants  at 
most,  but  probably  never  did  contain  more  than  15,000. 

"  Allowing  to  Jerusalem,  in  the  period  of  the  great- 
est prosperity  of  the  Jews,  a  population  of  even 
20,000,  is  it  at  all  probable  that  the  whole  country 
could  have  contained  anything  like  even  the  lowest 
estimate  to  be  gathered  from  the  Scripture  record  ?  In 
1  Chron.  21  :  5,  6  we  read  that  the  number  of  '  men 


72  SKELETON  KEYS. 

that  drew  the  sword '  of  Israel  and  Judah  amounted 
to  1,570,000,  not  counting  the  tribes  of  Levi  and  Ben- 
jamin. In  2  Sara.  24 :  9,  the  number  given  at  the 
same  census  is  1,300,000,  and  no  omission  is  men- 
tioned. Assuming  the  larger  number  to  be  correct, 
and  adding  only  one-eighth  for  the  two  tribes  of  Levi 
and  Benjamin,  which  may  have  been  the  smallest,  we 
have  1,766,000  fighting-men.  This  would  give,  at  the 
rate  of  one  fighting-man  to  four  inhabitants,  a  total 
population  of  over  7,000,000  souls.  But  if  we  adopt 
a  more  reasonable  ratio,  of  one  to  six,  we  have  a  pop- 
ulation of  over  10,500,000  souls.  And  then  we  omit 
the  aliens.  These  numbered  153,600  working-men 
only  two  years  later  (2  Chron.  2 :  17),  and  the  total 
alien  population,  therefore,  must  have  been  about 
500,000,  which,  added  to  the  census,  would  make  the 
total  population  from  7,500,000  to  11,000,000,  or 
more.  Can  any  intelligent  man  believe  that  a  mount- 
ainous, barren  country,  no  larger  than  Connecticut, 
without  commerce,  without  manufactures,  without  the 
mechanical  arts,  without  civilization,  ever  did  or  could 
subsist  even  two  millions  of  people  ?  Much  less  can  it 
be  believed  that  it  subsisted  '  seven  nations  greater  and 
mightier  than  the  Israelitish  nation  itself  (Deut.  7  :  1) 
—i.  e.  not  less  than  14,000,000. 

"  That  the  Jews  were  a  very  barbarous  people  is  un- 
deniable. Slavery  necessarily  makes  a  people  barbarous. 
Not  only  were  the  Israelites  a  nation  of  slaves,  accord- 
ing to  their  own  record,  but  after  their  entry  into 
Canaan  they  were  six  times  reduced  to  bondage  in  their 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        73 

own  land  of  promise.     During  a  period  of  281  years 
they  were  in  slavery  111  years,  viz. : 

Under  the  king  of  Mesopotamia  ...   8  years,  Judg.  3  :  8. 

Under  the  king  of  Moab 18      "  "       3  :  14. 

Under  the  king  of  Canaan 20      "  "       4:3. 

Under  the  Midianites 7      "  "       6:1. 

InGilead 18      «  "     10  :  8. 

Under  the  Philistines 40      "  "     13  :  1. 

"  That  the  Jews  were  far  behind  their  surrounding 
neighbors  in  civilization  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in 
the  first  battle  they  fought  under  their  first  king,  Saul, 
they  had  in  the  whole  army  '  neither  sword  nor  spear 
in  the  hand  of  any  of  the  people,'  except  Saul  and 
Jonathan  (1  Sam.  13 :  22).  Nor  was  any  '  smith 
found  throughout  all  the  land  of  Israel'  (ver.  19),  but 
*all  the  Israelites  went  down  to  the  Philistines  to 
sharpen  every  man  his  share,  and  his  coulter,  and  his 
axe,  and  his  mattock '  (ver.  20.)  This  was  404  years 
after  the  Exodus  and  only  75  years  prior  to  the  build- 
ing of  Solomon's  temple.  Their  weapons  of  war  were 
those  of  the  rudest  savage. 

"  As  another  evidence  of  the  barbarism  of  the  Jews, 
when  David  resolved  to  build  a  house  for  himself  he 
had  no  native  artisans,  but  had  to  send  to  Hiram,  king 
of  Tyre,  for  masons  and  carpenters  (2  Sam.  5:  11). 
Even  the  wood  itself  had  to  be  brought  from  Tyre. 
It  would  seem  that  even  in  those  days,  as  now,  the 
mountains  of  Canaan  were  destitute  of  trees — a  sure 
sign  of  a  sterile  country.  The  wood  of  course  had  to  be 
carried   overland.     Wheel-carriages  were  unknown  to 


74  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  Israelites,  except  in  the  form  of  chariots  of  iron 
used  by  their  enemies,  which  prevented  Judah,  even 
with  the  help  of  the  Lord,  from  driving  out  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  valleys  (Judg.  1  :  19).  David  captured 
1000  chariots  in  about  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  reign, 
of  which  he  preserved  only  100,  disabling  all  the 
horses  (1  Chron.  18  :  3.)  Prior  to  this  event  neither 
chariots  nor  horses  had  been  used  by  the  Israelites,  nor 
was  much  use  made  of  them  by  the  subsequent  kings. 
Oxen  and  asses  were  their  beasts  of  burden ;  camels 
were  rare  even  long  after  Solomon's  reign.  How,  then, 
was  the  wood  brought  from  Tyre  over  the  mountains, 
unless  it  was  carried  on  the  backs  of  oxen  or  asses  or 
dragged  along  the  ground  ?" 

That  a  considerable  number  of  Jews  at  one  time 
sojourned  in  Egypt  is  highly  probable.  How  they 
got  there,  and  how  they  came  to  leave,  is  not  so  certain. 
An  eminent  Egyptologist  writes  in  a  leading  London 
journal : 

"The  presence  of  large  numbers  of  Semites  in 
ancient  Egypt  has  always  been  a  puzzle  to  historians, 
and  what  first  led  to  their  migrating  from  Mesopotamia 
to  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs  has  never  hitherto  been 
made  clear.  Quite  recently,  however,  the  British 
Museum  has  become  possessed  of  a  number  of  cunei- 
form tablets  which  throw  considerable  light  on  the 
subject.  Early  in  the  present  year  a  number  of  these 
tablets  were  offered  for  sale  in  Cairo.  They  had  been 
dug  up  from  the  grave  of  a  royal  scribe  of  Araenophis 
III.  and  IV.  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  which  had 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        75 

given  up  its  records,  and  not  only  records,  but  seals 
and  papyri  of  great  historical  and  artistic  value.  Some 
went  to  the  Boulak  Museum,  some  to  Berlin,  others  to 
private  persons,  and  eighty-one  have  found  their  way 
to  the  British  Museum.  These  last  have  now  been 
arranged  and  catalogued  by  Mr.  Budge,  the  well- 
known  Egyptologist,  whose  investigations  have  brought 
to  light  a  most  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of 
ancient  Egypt.  Not  only  do  the  tablets  explain  the 
historical  crux  mentioned  above,  but  they  introduce  us 
to  the  family  life  of  the  early  kings.  They  picture  to 
us  tJhe  splendors  of  the  royal  palaces ;  they  enable  us 
to  assist  at  the  betrothal  of  the  kings'  daughters  and 
to  follow  the  kings  to  their  hunting-grounds.  Most 
of  the  tablets  are  letters  addressed  to  Amenophis  III., 
and  some  are  from  Tushratta,  king  of  Mesopotamia. 

"  Amenophis  III.  was  a  mighty  hunter,  and  once 
on  a  shooting-trip  into  Mesopotamia  after  big  game 
he,  like  a  king  in  a  fairy-tale,  met  and  loved  Ti,  the 
daughter  of  Tushratta.  They  were  married  in  due 
time,  and  Ti  went,  down  into  Egypt  with  three  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  of  her  principal  ladies.  This 
brought  a  host  of  their  Semitic  countrymen  along,  who 
found  in  Egypt  a  good  field  for  their  business  capaci- 
ties, and  gradually,  like  the  modern  Jews  in  Russia, 
got  possession  of  the  lands  and  goods  of  their  hosts. 
The  influence  of  the  Semitic  queen  is  attested  by  the 
very  fact  that  this  library  of  cuneiform  tablets  was 
preserved.  And  under  the  feeble  sovereigns  who  fol- 
lowed, her  countrymen  doubtless  held  their  own.     But 


76  SKELETON  KEYS. 

at  last  came  the  nineteenth  dynasty  and  the  Pharaoh 
'  who  knew  not  Joseph.'  Then  they  were  set  to  brick- 
making  and  pyramid-building,  till  the  outbreak  which 
led  to  the  Red  Sea  triumph. 

"  Mr.  Budge,  of  the  British  Museum,  has  translated 
three  of  the  letters.  One  is  from  Tushratta  to  Ameno- 
phis.  After  many  complimentary  salutations,  he  pro- 
poses to  his  son-in-law  that  they  should  continue  the 
arrangement  made  by  their  fathers  for  pasturing  double- 
humped  camels,  and  in  this  way  he  leads  up  to  the 
main  purport  of  his  epistle.  He  says  that  Manie,  his 
great-nephew,  is  ambitious  to  marry  the  daughter  of 
the  king  of  Egypt,  and  he  pleads  that  Manie  might  be 
allowed  to  go  down  to  Egypt  to  woo  in  person.  The 
alliance  would,  he  considers,  be  a  bond  of  union  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  and  he  adds,  as  though  by  an 
after-thought,  that  the  gold  which  Amenophis  appears 
to  have  asked  for  should  be  sent  for  at  once,  together 
with  'large  gold  jars,  large  gold  plates,  and  other 
articles  made  of  gold.'  After  this  meaning  interpola- 
tion he  returns  to  the  marriage  question,  and  proposes 
to  act  in  the  matter  of  the  dowry  in  the  same  way  in 
which  his  grandfather  acted,  presumably  on  a  like 
occasion.  He  then  enlarges  on  the  wealth  of  his  king- 
dom, where  '  gold  is  like  dust  which  cannot  be  counted,' 
and  he  adds  an  inventory  of  presents  which  he  is  send- 
ing, articles  of  gold,  inlay,  and  harness,  and  thirty 
eunuchs." 

In  speaking  of  the  sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt, 
Dr.  Knappert  says  :  "  According  to  the  tradition  pre- 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        77 

served  in  Genesis,  it  was  the  promotion  of  Jacob's  son, 
Joseph,  to  be  viceroy  of  Egypt  that  brought  about  the 
migration  of  the  sons  of  Israel  from  Canaan  to  Goshen. 
The  story  goes  that  this  Joseph  was  sold  as  a  slave  by 
his  brothers,  and  after  many  changes  of  fortune  re- 
ceived the  viceregal  office  at  Pharaoh's  hands  through 
his  skill  in  interpreting  dreams.  Famine  drives  his 
brothers,  and  afterward  his  father,  to  him,  and  the 
Egyptian  prince  gives  them  the  land  of  Goshen  to  live 
in.  It  is  by  imagining  all  this  that  the  legend  tries  to 
account  for  the  fact  that  Israel  passed  some  time  in 
Egypt,  But  we  must  look  for  the  real  explanation  in 
a  migration  of  certain  tribes  which  could  not  establish 
or  maintain  themselves  in  Canaan,  and  were  forced  to 
move  farther  on." 

The  author  of  the  Religion  of  Israel  says  :  "  The 
history  of  the  religion  of  Israel  must  start  from  the 
sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt.  Formerly  it  was 
usual  to  take  a  much  earlier  starting-point,  and  to  be- 
gin with  a  discussion  of  the  religious  ideas  of  the 
patriarchs.  And  this  was  perfectly  right  so  long  as 
the  accounts  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  were  con- 
sidered historical.  But  now  that  a  strict  investigation 
has  shown  us  that  these  stories  are  entirely  unhistor- 
ical,  of  course  we  have  to  begin  the  history  later  on." 

The  author  of  The  Spirit  History  of  Man  says  : 
"  The  Hebrews  came  out  of  Egypt  and  settled  among 
the  Canaanites.  They  need  not  be  traced  beyond  the 
Exodus;  that  is  their  historical  beginning.  It  was 
very  easy  to  cover  up  this  remote  event  by  the  recital 


78  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  mythical  traditions,  and  to  prefix  to  it  an  account 
of  their  origin  in  which  the  gods  (patriarchs)  should 
figure  as  their  ancestors." 

But  how  about  the  Jewish  exodus  from  Egypt? 
What  was  the  real  cause?  Whom  shall  we  credit, 
the  writer  of  the  book  called  Exodus  or  other  writers  ? 
What  follows  differs  very  much  from  the  Hebrew 
story. 

Lysiraachus  relates  that  "  a  filthy  disease  broke  out 
in  Egypt,  and  the  oracle  of  Ammon,  being  consulted 
on  the  occasion,  commanded  the  king  to  purify  the 
land  by  driving  out  the  Jews  (who  were  infected  with 
leprosy,  etc.),  who  were  hateful  to  the  gods.  The  whole 
multitude  of  the  people  were  accordingly  collected  and 
driven  out  into  the  wilderness." 

Diodorus  Siculus  says  :  "  In  ancient  times  Egypt  was 
afflicted  with  a  great  plague,  which  was  attributed  to 
the  anger  of  God  on  account  of  the  multitude  of  for- 
eigners in  Egypt,  by  whom  the  rites  of  the  native 
religion  were  neglected.  The  Egyptians  accordingly 
drove  them  out.  The  most  notable  of  them  went 
under  Cadmus  and  Danaus  to  Greece,  but  the  greater 
number  followed  Moses,  a  wise  and  valiant  leader,  to 
Palestine." 

Tacitus,  the  Roman  historian,  says  :  "  In  this  clash  of 
opinions  one  point  seems  to  be  universally  admitted — 
a  pestilential  disease,  disfiguring  the  race  of  man  and 
making  the  body  an  object  of  loathsome  deformity, 
spreading  all  over  Egypt.  Bocchoris,  at  that  time  the 
reigning   monarch,    consulted  the   oracle   of   Jupiter 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        79 

Hammon,  and  received  for  answer  that  the  kingdom 
must  be  purified  by  exterminating  the  infected  mul- 
titude, as  a  race  of  men  detested  by  the  gods.  After 
diligent  search  the  wretched  sufferers  were  collected  to- 
gether, and  in  a  wild  and  barren  desert  abandoned  to 
their  misery.  In  that  distress,  while  the  vulgar  herd 
was  sunk  in  deep  despair,  Moses,  one  of  their  number, 
reminded  them  that  by  the  wisdom  of  his  counsels 
they  had  been  already  rescued  out  of  impending  dan- 
ger. Deserted  as  they  were  by  men  and  gods,  he  told 
them  that  if  they  did  not  repose  their  confidence  in 
him  as  their  chief  by  divine  commission  they  had  no 
resource  left.  His  offer  was  accepted.  Their  march 
began,  they  knew  not  whither.  Want  of  water  was 
their  chief  distress.  Worn  out  with  fatigue,  they  lay 
stretched  on  the  bare  earth,  heartbroken,  ready  to  ex- 
pire, when  a  troop  of  wild  asses,  returning  from  pasture, 
went  up  the  steep  ascent  of  a  rock  covered  with  a  grove 
of  trees.  The  verdure  of  the  herbage  round  the  place 
suggested  the  idea  of  springs  near  at  hand.  Moses 
traced  the  steps  of  the  animals,  and  discovered  a  plen- 
tiful vein  of  water.  By  this  relief  the  fainting  multi- 
tude was  raised  from  despair." 

In  a  learned  work  on  Egypt  by  Mr.  William  Oxley 
of  England,  published  in  1884,  the  author  writes  : 
"  Taking  the  records  as  we  find  them,  if  they  are  real 
history,  and  as  Palestine  is  contiguous  to  Egypt,  we 
should  naturally  expect  to  find  some  reference  to  the 
Israelites  in  the  Egyptian  annals,  but  what  does  appear 
in  regard  to  Palestine  is  certainly  not  favorable  to  the 


80  SKELETON  KEYS. 

assumption  that  it  was  the  home  of  the  Israelites  as  a 
nation.  I  cull  the  following  from  such  materials  as  are 
at  present  within  reach,  partly  taken  from  the  Records 
of  the  Past : 

"  It  has  been  generally  acknowledged  by  Egyptian 
biblicists  that  'the  cruel  bondage  of  the  Israelites' 
culminated  under  the  reign  of  Rameses  II,,  nineteenth 
dynasty,  and  that  the  Exodus  took  place  under  his  suc- 
cessor, Menephtah  I.,  1326  b.  c,  who  was  drowned  in 
the  Red  Sea  with  all  his  host  in  his  attempt  to  bring 
the  wanderers  back  again.  But,  as  I  have  already 
said,  the  tomb  of  this  very  king  at  Thebes  contains  an 
inscription  to  the  effect  that  he  had  lived  to  a  good  old 
age,  and  was  a  child  of  good-fortune  from  his  cradle 
to  the  grave.  In  the  annals  of  Rameses  III.,  who 
reigned  some  fifty  or  sixty  years  after  the  Israelites 
ought  to  have  been  settled  in  their  own  land,  many  ref- 
erences are  made  to  the  country  in  which  they  were 
located  (according  to  biblical  accounts).  The  king 
goes  to  what  is  known  to  us  as  Palestine,  Phoenicia, 
and  Syria  to '  receive  the  annual  tribute  from  the  chiefs,' 
whom  he  calls  Khetas.  In  the  enumeration  of  his  con- 
quests, extending  from  Egypt  east  and  northward,  he 
enumerates  thirty-eight  tribes  and  peoples,  and  says : 
'  I  have  smitten  every  land,  and  have  taken  every  land 
in  its  extent.'  In  his  reminder  to  the  God  Ptah  of  the 
benefits  he  had  conferred  on  the  god,  the  king  says : 
'  I  gave  to  thy  temple  from  the  store-houses  of  Egypt, 
Tar-neter,  and  Kharu  {i.  e.  Palestine  and  Syria)  more 
numerous  offerings  than  the  sand  of  the  sea,  as  well  as 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.       81 

cattle  and  slaves '  (Syrians).  He  also  built  a  temple 
to  Ammon  in  the  same  country,  to  which  '  the  nations 
of  the  Rutenna  came  and  brought  their  tribute.' 
Making  full  allowance  for  the  usual  Egyptian  flattery, 
the  fact  is  clear  that  in  the  time  of  this  king  the  Israel- 
ites could  not  have  been  a  settled  and  distinct  people; 
and  the  incident  of  their  Exodus  would  have  been  too 
fresh  and  recent  to  be  passed  over  without  some  comment 
by  this  vainglorious  monarch. 

"  From  a  papyrus  translated  in  the  Reaords  of  the 
Past  (ii.  107),  entitled  Travels  of  an  Egyptian,  who 
gives  a  full  account  of  Palestine,  etc.,  it  appears  there 
was  a  fortress  there  which  had  been  built  by  Rameses 
II.,  and  which  was  still  belonging  to  Egypt.  This 
would  be  about  1350  b.  c.  ;  but  not  the  slightest  hint 
of  any  such  people  as  Israelites,  although  he  tells  us 
*  he  visited  the  country  to  get  information  respecting 
the  country,  with  the  manners  and  customs  of  its 
inhabitants.' 

"The  next  is  Rameses  XII.,  some  two  hundred 
years  after  the  Exodus,  who  is  the  hero  of  the  story 
of  the  possessed  princess.  He  was  in  Mesopotamia  at 
the  time  when  the  chief  of  the  Bakhten  brought  his 
daughter,  who  afterward  became  queen  of  Egypt.  '  His 
Majesty  was  there  registering  the  annual  tributes  of  all 
the  princes  of  the  countries,'  among  whom  he  enume- 
rates Tar-neter  (Palestine),  but  no  mention  of  Israel- 
ites. 

"  I  find  no  further  trace  until  the  time  of  Herodotus 
(about  420  b.  c.) ;  and  here  we  come  on  historical 

6 


82  SKELETON  KEYS. 

ground.  This  great  historian  travelled  through  Egypt 
and  Palastine  in  the  reign  of  one  of  the  kings  of  the 
Persian  dynasty,  about  forty  or  fifty  years  after  the 
alleged  return  of  the  Jews  from  their  captivity  in 
Babylon,  and  when  the  temple  had  been  built  and  the 
city  fortified.  He  repeatedly  alludes  to  the  Phoenicians 
and  Syrians,  whose  country  extended  from  the  coast  of 
the  Levant  down  to  the  Egyptian  frontier,  including 
the  isthmus  and  Sinaitic  Peninsula.  He  says  that 
Necho  (about  670  b.  c.)  fought  with  the  Syrians,  and 
took  a  large  city,  Cadytis ;  but  he  makes  no  mention 
of  Jews  nor  yet  of  Jerusalem.  If  they  had  been 
there,  it  is  incredible  that  such  a  careful  and  grasping 
historian  should  have  explored  the  land  without  noti- 
cing them  in  some  way  or  other. 

"  The  next  is  from  a  tablet  erected  to  Alexander  II. 
by  Ptolemy,  at  that  time  viceroy  under  the  Persian 
king,  but  who  soon  after  himself  became  king  of  Egypt, 
305  B.  c.  The  inscription  states  that  '  Alexander 
marched  with  an  army  of  lonians  to  the  Syrians'  land, 
who  were  at  war  with  him.  He  penetrated  its  interior 
and  took  it  at  one  stroke,  and  led  their  princes,  cavalry, 
ships,  and  works  of  art  to  Egypt.' 

"  Next  follows  the  third  Ptolemy,  238  B.  c.  (see  the 
Decree  of  Canopus,  Records  of  the  Past,  viii.,  81),  who 
invaded  the  two  lands  of  Asia,  and  brought  back  to 
Egypt  all  the  treasures  which  had  been  carried  away 
by  Cambyses  and  his  successors.  He  '  imported  corn 
from  East  Rutenna  and  Kafatha' — i.  e.  from  Syria 
and  Phoenicia.     It  was  the  father  of  this  king  who  is 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.       83 

credited  with  sending  to  Judea  for  the  seventy-two  men 
who  translated  the  Hebrew  Bible  into  Greek ;  and 
yet  neitHer  of  these  Ptolemaic  kings  makes  mention 
of  Judea,  Jerusalem,  or  the  Jews !  The  inference  is 
obvious  :  they  were  not  ther-e. 

"Many  historiographers,  when  writing  of  Jewish 
annals,  use  the  Ptolemaic  and  other  monumental  and 
papyrian  accounts  as  applying  to  the  Jews,  and  conse- 
quently use  the  term  '  Jews ;'  but  this  is  unwarrantable, 
inasmuch  as  the  accounts  themselves  speak  of  '  Syrians, 
Phoenicians,'  etc.,  but  not  of  'Jews.'  According  to 
the  best  cyclopsedists,  '  there  is  little  or  nothing  known 
of  the  Jews  or  Jerusalem  until  the  time  of  Christ ;' 
and  even  then  it  is  taken  chiefly  from  Josephus,  who, 
to  my  view,  is  scarcely  admissible  as  a  chronographer 
of  actual  history.  No  mention  is  made  by  the  Ptole- 
mies— say  250  or  even  less  years  B.  c. — of  the  Jews  of 
Jerusalem,  and  as  the  Roman  emperor  Hadrian  (from 
117  to  138  A.  D.)  is  credited  with  changing  the  name  of 
the  city  to  JSlia  Capitolina,  it  could  only  have  been 
known  as  Jerusalem  for  a  few  centuries  at  most.  The 
Arch  of  Titus  in  Rome  is  taken  as  conclusive  proof 
that  it  was  erected  to  commemorate  his  victories  over 
the  rebellious  Jews  and  tlie  successful  siege  of  Jeru- 
salem. But  even  this,  I  apprehend,  is  taken  chiefly 
from  Josephus.  When  in  Rome  last  year  I  closely 
inspected  this  arch,  expecting  to  find  an  inscription  to 
this  effect,  but  I  was  disappointed  at  seeing  only  a 
Latin  one  over  the  arch,  which  reads  (in  English): 
'  The  Senate  and  Roman  People  to  the  Divine  Titus, 


84  SKELETON  KEYS. 

(Son)  of  the  divine  Vespasian/  and  another,  by  Pius 
VII.,  recording  its  restoration.  It  is  true,  I  saw  the 
alto-reliefs  on  the  inside  of  the  arch,  showing  a  table, 
trumpets,  and  a  seven-branched  lamp  ;  but  these  were 
used  in  many  temples,  and  would  as  well  refer  to  the 
Syrian  or  Phoenician  temples,  which  undoubtedly  ex- 
isted at  that  time,  and  in  the  absence  of  direct  Roman 
testimony  to  the  name  of  the  city  and  people  (of  which 
I  am  unaware),  it  cannot  be  accepted  as  indubitable 
evidence  of  its  reference  to  a  city  called  and  known  to 
them  as  Jerusalem,  and  to  a  people  known  to  them  as 
Jews.  Unless  this  can  be  established,  it  only  amounts 
to  an  inference  resting  on  Josephus. 

"As  the  result  of  my  researches,  I  place  Jewish 
historians,  so  called,  upon  the  same  footing  as  the 
Christian  ecclesiastical  ones,  whose  works,  while  con- 
taining a  base  of  more  or  less  historical  reference  and 
truth,  are  yet  too  much  overweighted  with  unhistorical 
myths  to  be  regarded  as  genuine,  sober  history.  To 
my  view,  the  Jews  were,  at  the  period  I  am  referring 
to,  in  a  not  dissimilar  position  to  the  Druses  of  Lebanon 
of  the  present  day.  As  is  well  known  to  a  certain 
class  of  writers  who  have  come  in  contact  with  them, 
they  form  a  community  held  together  not  so  much  by 
national  ties  as  by  semi-religious  ones,  which  are  based 
upon  Cabalistic  and  theurgic  rites  and  ceremonies. 
Like  what  I  conceive  the  Jews  to  have  been  in  the 
centuries  preceding  the  Christian  era,  they  are  an  07'der 
rather  than  a  nation,  the  remains  of  systems  which 
have  continued  and  survived  from  ancient  times.     In 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.       85 

this  light  the  Jewish  records  are  intelligible  as  writings 
veiled  in  allegory,  treating  of  their  mystic  lore,  albeit 
expressed  in  verbiage  that  bears  a  literal  meaning 
upon  its  surface.  I  give  this  as  the  only  solution  that 
presents  itself  of  the  mysterious  problem  under  review." 

I  now  propose  to  state  a  few  points  from  the  Jewish 
writings  themselves  (collated  from  Bishop  Colenso)  to 
show  the  fabulous  character  of  the  history  of  this  pre- 
tentious people. 

The  number  of  fighting-men  who  marched  out  of 
Egypt  is  nowhere  estimated  at  less  than  600,000,  and 
if  this  represented  only  one-fourth  of  the  population,  the 
latter  must  have  reached  3,000,000.  If  we  cut  this 
down  one-third,  so  as  to  be  sure  of  our  figures,  we 
make  it  2,000,000  souls. 

The  number  of  the  children  of  Israel  who  went  into 
Egypt  was  70  (Ex.  1 :  5).  They  sojourned  in  Egypt 
215  years.  It  could  not  have  been  430  years,  as  would 
appear  from  Ex.11  :  40.  The  marginal  chronology 
makes  the  period  215  years,  and  there  were  only  four 
generations  to  the  Exodus — namely,  Levi,  Kohath, 
Amram,  and  Moses  (Ex.  6  :  16,  18,  20).  How  could 
these  people  have  increased  in  215  years  from  70  souls 
so  as  to  number  600,000  warriors  ?  It  would  have 
required  an  average  number  of  46  children  to  each 
father.  The  12  sons  of  Jacob  had  between  them  only 
53  sons.  At  this  rate  of  increase,  in  the  fourth  gen- 
eration there  would  have  been  only  6311  males  (pro- 
vided they  were  all  living  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus), 
instead  of  1,000,000.     If  we  add  the  fifth  generation. 


86  SKELETON  KEYS. 

who  would  be  mostly  children,  the  total  uumber  of 
males  would  not  have  exceeded  28,465. 

All  the  first-born  males  from  a  month  old  and  up- 
ward, of  those  that  were  numbered,  were  22,273 
(Num.  3 :  43).  The  lowest  computation  of  the  whole 
number  of  the  people  at  that  time  is  2,000,000.  The 
number  of  males  would  be  1,000,000.  Dividing  the 
latter  number  by  the  number  of  first-born,  gives  44, 
which  would  be  the  average  number  of  boys  in  each 
family,  or  about  88  children  by  each  mother;  Or,  if 
where  the  first-born  were  females,  the  males  were  not 
counted,  the  number  of  children  by  each  mother  would 
be  reduced  to  44. 

Dan  in  the  first  generation  had  but  one  son  (Gen. 
46  :  23),  and  yet  in  the  fourth  generation  his  descend- 
ants had  increased  to  62,700  warriors  (Num.  2  :  26),  or 
64,400  (Num.  26  :  43).  Each  of  his  sons  and  grand- 
sons must  have  had  about  80  children  of  both  sexes. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Levites  increased  the  number 
of  "  males  from  a  month  old  and  upward  "  during  the 
38  years  in  the  wilderness  only  from  22,000  to  23,000 
(Num.  3  :  39 ;  26  :  62),  and  the  tribe  of  Manasseh  dur- 
ing the  same  time  increased  from  32,200  (Num.  1  :  35) 
to  52,700  (26  :  34). 

The  whole  population  of  Israel  were  instructed  in 
one  single  day  to  keep  the  passover,  and  actually  did 
keep  it  (Ex.  12).  At  the  first  notice  of  any  such  feast 
Jehovah  said,  "  I  will  pass  through  the  land  of  Egypt 
this  night."  The  passover  was  to  be  killed  "  at  even  " 
on  the  same  day  that  Moses  received  the  command. 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        87 

The  women  were  at  the  same  time  ordered  to  borrow 
jewels  of  their  neighbors,  the  Egyptians.  After  mid- 
night of  the  same  day  the  Israelites  received  notice  to 
start  for  the  wilderness.  No  one  was  to  go  out  of  his 
house  till  morning,  when  they  were  to  take  their  hur- 
ried flight  with  their  cattle  and  herds.  How  could 
2,000,000  people,  scattered  about  over  a  wide  district, 
as  they  must  have  been  with  their  cattle  and  herds, 
have  gotten  ready  and  taken  a  simultaneous  hurried 
flight  at  twelve  hours'  notice? 

The  Israelites,  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  reached 
the  Eed  Sea,  a  distance  of  from  fifty  to  sixty  miles 
over  a  sandy  desert,  in  three  days !  Marching  fifty 
abreast,  the  able-bodied  warriors  alone  would  have 
filled  up  the  road  for  seven  miles,  and  the  whole  multi- 
tude would  have  made  a  column  twenty-two  miles  long, 
so  that  the  last  of  the  body  could  not  have  been  started 
until  the  front  had  advanced  that  distance — more  than 
two  days'  journey  for  such  a  mixed  company.  Then 
the  sheep  and  cattle  must  have  formed  another  vast 
column,  covering  a  much  greater  tract  of  ground  in 
proportion  to  their  number.  Upon  what  did  these  two 
millions  of  sheep  and  oxen  feed  in  the  journey  to  the 
Red  Sea  over  a  desert  region,  sandy,  gravelly,  and 
stony  alternately  ?  How  did  the  people  manage  with 
the  sick  and  infirm,  and  especially  with  the  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  births  that  must  have  taken  place  in  the 
three  days'  march  ? 

Judah  was  forty-two  years  old  when  he  went  down 
with  Jacob  into  Egypt,  being  three  years  older  than 


88  SKELETON  KEYS. 

his  brother  Joseph,  who  was  then  thirty-nine.  For 
"  Joseph  was  thirty  years  old  when  he  stood  before 
Phai-aoh "  (Gen.  41 :  46) ;  and  from  that  time  nine 
years  elapsed  (seven  of  plenty  and  two  of  famine) 
before  Jacob  came  down  into  Egypt.  Judah  was  born 
in  the  fourth  year  of  Jacob's  double  marriage  (Gen. 
29  :  35),  being  the  fourth  of  the  seven  children  of  Leah 
born  in  seven  years ;  and  Joseph  was  born  of  Rachel 
in  the  seventh  year  (Gen.  30 :  24,  26 ;  21 :  41).  In 
these  forty-two  years  of  Judah's  life  the  following 
events  are  recorded  in  Gen.  38  : 

He  grows  up,  marries,  and  has  three  sons.  His 
eldest  son  grows  up,  marries,  and  dies.  The  second 
son  marries  his  brother's  widow  and  dies.  The  third 
son,  after  waiting  to  grow  to  maturity,  declines  to 
marry  the  widow.  The  widow  then  deceives  Judah 
himself,  and  bears  him  twins — Pharez  and  Zarah. 
One  of  these  twins  grows  up  and  has  two  sons — Hez- 
ron  and  Hamul — born  to  him  before  Jacob  goes  down 
into  Egypt. 

In  Ex.  30  :  11-13,  Jehovah  commanded  Moses  to 
take  a  census  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  in  doing  it 
to  collect  half  a  shekel  of  the  sanctuary  as  atonement- 
money.  This  expression  "shekel  of  the  sanctuary" 
is  put  into  the  mouth  of  Jehovah  six  or  seven  months 
before  the  tabernacle  was  made.  In  Ex.  38  :  26  we 
read  of  such  a  tribute  being  paid,  but  nothing  is  there 
said  of  any  census  being  taken,  only  that  the  number 
of  those  who  paid,  from  twenty  years  old  and  upward, 
was  603,550  men.     In  Num.  1 :  1-46,  more  than  six 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.       89 

months  after  this  occasion,  an  account  of  an  actual 
census  is  given,  but  no  atonement-money  is  mentioned. 
If  in  the  first  instance  a  census  was  taken,  but  acci- 
dentally omitted  to  be  mentioned,  and  in  the  second  in- 
stance the  tribute  was  paid,  but  accidentally  omitted  like- 
wise, it  was  nevertheless  surprising  that  the  number 
of  adult  males  should  have  been  identically  the  same 
(603,550)  on  both  occasions,  six  months  apart. 

Aaron  and  his  two  sons  were  the  only  priests  during 
Aaron's  lifetime.  They  had  to  make  all  the  burnt- 
offerings  on  a  single  altar  nine  feet  square  (Ex.  37  :  1), 
besides  attending  to  other  priestly  duties  for  2,000,000 
people.  At  the  birth  of  every  child  both  a  burnt- 
offering  and  a  sin-offering  had  to  be  made.  The  num- 
ber of  births  must  be  reckoned  as  at  least  two  hundred 
and  fifty  a  day,  for  which  consequently  five  hundred 
sacrifices  would  have  to  be  offered  daily — an  impossible 
duty  to  be  performed  by  three  priests.  For  poor 
women  pigeons  were  accepted  instead  of  lambs.  If 
half  of  them  offered  pigeons,  and  only  one  instead  of 
two,  it  would  have  required  90,000  pigeons  annually 
for  this  purpose  alone.  Where  did  they  get  the  pigeons  ? 
How  could  they  have  had  them  at  all  under  Sinai  ? 
There  were  thirteen  cities  where  the  presence  of  these 
three  priests  was  required  (Josh.  21 :  19).  The  three 
priests  had  to  eat  a  large  portion  of  the  burnt-offerings 
(Num.  18  :  10)  and  all  the  sin-offerings — two  hundred 
and  fifty  pigeons  a  day — more  than  eighty  for  each 
priest. 

In  keeping  the  second  passover  under  Sinai,  150,000 


90  SKELETON  KEYS. 

lambs  must  have  been  killed — i.  e.  one  for  each  family 
(Ex.  12:3,  4).  The  Levites  slew  them,  and  the  three 
priests  had  to  sprinkle  the  blood  from  their  hands 
(1  Chron.  30  :  16  ;  35  :  11).  The  killing  had  to  be 
done  "  between  two  evenings "  (Ex.  12 :  6),  and  the 
sprinkling  had  to  be  done  in  about  two  hours.  The 
killing  must  have  been  done  in  the  court  of  the  taber- 
nacle (Lev.  1 :  3,  5 ;  17  :  2-6).  The  area  of  the  court 
could  have  held  but  5000  people  at  most.  Here  the 
lambs  had  to  be  sacrificed- at  the  rate  of  1250  a  minute, 
and  each  of  the  three  priests  had  to  sprinkle  the  blood 
of  more  than  400  lambs  every  minute  for  two  hours. 

The  number  of  warriors  of  the  Israelites,  as  recorded 
at  the  Exodus,  was  600,000  (Ex.  7  :  37)  ;  subsequently 
it  was  603,550  (Ex.  38  :  25-28),  and  at  the  end  of 
their  wanderings  it  was  601,730  (Num.  26  :  51).  But 
in  2  Chron.  13 :  3,  Abijah,  king  of  Judah,  brings 
400,000  men  against  Jeroboam,  king  of  Israel,  with 
800,000,  and  "  there  fell  down  slain  of  Israel  500,000 
chosen  men"  (ver.  17).  On  another  occasion,  Pekah, 
king  of  Israel,  slew  of  Judah  iu  one  day,  120,000 
valiant  men  (2  Chron.  28  :  6.) 

The  Israelites  at  their  Exodus  were  provided  with 
tents  (Ex.  16  :  16),  in  which  they  undoubtedly  en- 
camped and  dwelt.  They  did  not  dwell  in  tents  in 
Egypt,  but  in  "houses"  with  "doors,"  "sideposts," 
and  "  lintels."  These  tents  must  have  been  made 
either  of  hair  or  of  skin  (Ex.  26  :  7,  14  ;  36  :  14,  19) 
— most  probably  of  the  latter — and  were  therefore 
much  heavier  than  the  modem  canvas  tents.     At  least 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        91 

200,000  were  required  to  accommodate  2,000,000  peo- 
ple. Supposing  they  took  these  tents  from  Egypt,  how 
did  they  carry  them  in  their  hurried  march  to  the  Red 
Sea  ?  The  people  had  burdens  enough  without  them. 
They  had  to  carry  their  kneadiug-troughs  with  the 
dough  unleavened,  their  clothes,  their  cooking  utensils, 
couches,  infants,  aged  and  infirm  persons,  and  food 
enough  for  at  least  a  month's  use,  or  until  manna  was 
provided  for  them  in  the  wilderness,  which  was  "  on 
the  fifteenth  day  of  the  second  month  after  their  de- 
parture out  of  the  land  of  Egypt "  (Ex.  16  :  1). 
One  of  these  tents,  with  its  poles,  pegs,  etc.,  would  be 
a  load  for  a  single  ox,  so  that  they  would  have  needed 
200,000  oxen  to  carry  the  tents.  But  oxen  are  not 
usually  trained  to  carry  goods  on  their  backs,  and  will 
not  do  so  without  training.     Then  it  is  written : 

"  These  be  the  words  which  Moses  spake  unto  all 
Israel"  (Deut.  1:  1). 

"  And  Moses  called  all  Israel  and  said  unto  them  " 
(Deut.  5:1). 

"There  was  not  a  word  of  all  that  Moses  com- 
manded, which  Joshua  read  not  before  all  the  congre- 
gation of  Israel,  with  the  women,  and  the  little  ones, 
and  the  strangers  that  were  conversant  among  them  " 
(Josh.  8  :  35). 

How  was  it  possible  to  do  this  before  at  least 
2,000,000  people  ?  Could  Moses  or  Joshua,  as  actual 
eye-witnesses,  have  expressed  themselves  in  such  ex- 
travagant language?     Surely  not. 

The  camp  of  the  Israelites  must  have  been  at  least 


92  SKELETON  KEYS. 

a  mile  and  a  half  in  diameter.  This  would  be  allow- 
ing to  each  person  on  the  average  a  space  three  times 
the  size  of  a  coffin  for  a  full-grown  man.  The  ashes, 
offal,  and  refuse  of  the  sacrifices  would  therefore  have 
to  be  carried  by  the  priest  in  person  a  distance  of  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  "  without  the  camp,  unto  a  clean 
place  "  (Lev.  4  :  11,  12.)  There  were  only  three  priests 
— namely,  Aaron,  Eleazar,  and  Ithamar — to  do  all  this 
work  for  2,000,000  people.  All  the  wood  and  water 
would  have  to  be  brought  into  this  immense  camp  from 
the  outside.  Where  could  the  supplies  have  been  got 
while  the  camp  was  under  Sinai,  in  a  desert,  for  nearly 
twelve  months  together  ?  How  could  so  great  a  camp 
have  been  kept  clean  ? 

But  how  huge  does  the  difficulty  become  if  we  take 
the  more  reasonable  dimensions  of  twelve  miles  square 
for  this  camp ;  that  is,  about  the  size  of  London  ! 
Imagine  at  least  half  a  million  of  men  having  to  go 
out  daily  a  distance  of  six  miles  and  back  to  the  sub- 
urbs for  the  common  necessities  of  nature,  as  the  law 
directed. 

The  Israelites  undoubtedly  had  flocks  and  herds  of 
cattle  (Ex.  34 :  3).  They  sojourned  nearly  a  year  be- 
fore Sinai,  where  there  was  no  food  for  cattle ;  and  the 
wilderness  in  which  they  sojourned  nearly  forty  years 
is  now  and  was  then  a  desert  (Deut.  32  :  10 ;  8:15). 
The  cattle  surely  did  not  subsist  on  manna ! 

Among  other  prodigies  of  valor,  12,000  Israelites 
are  recorded  in  Num.  31  as  slaying  all  the  male  Mid- 
ianites,  taking  captive  all  the  females  and  children,  seiz- 


THE  FABULOUS  CLAIMS  OF  JUDAISM.        93 

ing  all  their  cattle  and  flocks,  numbering  808,000  head, 
taking  all  their  goods  and  burning  all  their  cities,  with- 
out the  loss  of  a  single  man.  Then  they  killed  all  the 
women  and  children  except  32,000  virgins,  whom  they 
kept  for  themselves.  There  would  seem  to  have  been 
at  least  80,000  females  in  the  aggregate,  of  whom 
48,000  were  killed,  besides  (say)  20,000  boys.  The 
number  of  men  slaughtered  must  have  been  about 
48,000.  Each  Israelite  therefore  must  have  killed  4 
men  in  battle,  carried  off  8  captive  women  and  chil- 
dren, and  driven  home  67  head  of  cattle.  And  then 
after  reaching  home,  as  a  pastime,  by  command  of 
Moses,  he  had  to  murder  6  of  his  captive  women  and 
children  in  cold  blood. 

Now,  I  respectfully  submit  that,  judging  from  the 
account  of  the  Exodus  of  the  Jews,  which  they  have 
written  themselves,  we  cannot  credit  it.  The  narrative 
is  full  of  contradictions,  and  is  so  absurd  and  incred- 
ible, and  even  ^^impossible,  that  we  must  regard  it  as  a 
huge  myth.  There  may  have  been  an  Exodus  from 
Egypt,  of  which  this  account  is  an  exaggeration,  but 
it  bears  so  many  evidences  of  ih^  fabulous  that  we  cast 
it  aside  and  are  led  to  doubt  whether  the  Jews  were 
ever  in  Egypt  except  as  tramps  and  vagabonds,  and  to 
suspect  that  the  whole  story  is  an  adapted  history  of 
some  great  exodus  of  some  ancient  tribes  written  for  a 
purpose. 

I  think  it  has  been  shown  that  the  Jews  were  not 
the  people  that  they  have  been  supposed  to  be.  They 
are  a  modern  people  in  the  world's  history,  antedated 


94  SKELETON  KEYS. 

by  many  highly-civilized  and  powerful  nations.  They 
are  not  descendants  of  Abram,  as  will  be  shown  more 
fully  hereafter,  and  their  population  never  reached  the 
fabulous  numbers  that  are  given  in  what  is  called  their 
sacred  history.  Indeed,  there  is  so  much  of  the/a6rfc- 
lous  about  them,  so  much  of  fahe  'pretence  that  upon 
the  very  face  is  impossible  and  incredible,  that  the  won- 
der is  that  Christians  should  ever  have  seriously  thought 
of  regarding  them  and  their  institutions  as  the  source 
and  substance  of  what  Christianity  is.  We  have  no 
prejudice  against  the  Jews.  We  cast  no  reflection  upon 
the  so-called  Hebrews  of  the  present  day.  They  are 
not  responsible  for  their  ancestors,  any  more  than 
Gladstone,  Huxley,  Tyndall,  Spencer,  and  other  brainy 
Englishmen  are  responsible  for  the  savagery  and  bar- 
barism of  their  forefathers. 

It  has  been  our  object  in  this  chapter  to  show  the 
Munchausenish  character  of  Jewish  history,  upon 
which  the  whole  superstructure  of  modern  theology 
rests.  If  anybody  is  proud  of  his  descent  from  such 
a  people,  he  is  welcome  to  the  glory. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

"  But  even  unto  this  day,  when  Moses  is  read,  the  veil  is  upon 
their  heart."— 2  Cor.  3  :  15. 

The  first  five  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  supposed 
by  many  to  have  been  written  by  Moses,  are  called  the 
Pentateuch.  In  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis,  in  the 
"  Authorized  Version,"  tliere  is  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  page  in  the  margin,  "  A.  M.  1,"  which  mean  Anno 
Mundi — the  year  of  the  world — one,  and  immediately 
below  it  are  the  letters  "  B.  c." — which  mean  Before 
Christ — "4004."  This  is  the  system  of  chronology 
established  by  Archbishop  Ussher,  and  means  that 
4004  years  before  Christ  the  world  was  one  year  old. 
It  is  claimed  that  Moses  promulgated  the  law  about 
1451  B.  c,  and  this  must  have  been  about  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  fifty-three  years  after  the  Crea- 
tion, which  added  to  1890,  the  present  date,  would 
make  the  world  just  five  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
ninety-four  years  old.  Lyell,  a  most  judicious  geologist 
estimated  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi  at  one  hundred 
thousand  years,  and  some  persons  think  these  figures 
should  have  been  doubled.  Professor  John  Fiske 
thinks  the  glacial  period  began  two  hundred  and  forty 

95 


96  SKELETON  KEYS. 

thousand  years  ago,  and  that  human  beings  inhabited 
Europe  at  least  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  years 
earlier,  thus  giving  an  antiquity  to  our  race  of  not  less 
than  four  hundred  thousand  years.  Other  scientists 
talk  of  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  even  millions,  of 
years,  but  we  attach  no  importance  to  specific  figures. 
We  simply  insist  upon  an  antiquity  which  very  far 
exceeds  six  thousand  years. 

Learned  Egyptologists  place  Rameses  II.,  the  Pha- 
raoh of  the  Jewish  captivity,  whose  mummy  is  now  to 
be  seen  in  the  museum  at  Cairo,  at  1390  years  B.  c.  It 
seems  strange  that  his  mummy  should  be  on  exhibition 
in  a  museum  when  "he  and  all  his  hosts  were  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  Red  Sea."  If  we  are  told  that  Ra- 
meses  II.  was  succeeded  by  Sethi  II.,  we  find  from 
Egyptian  records  that  both  of  these  kings  lived  to  a 
good  old  age,  and  the  mummy  of  each  has  been  pre- 
served, and  not  even  a  hint  is  given  that  either  of 
them  was  drowned.  But  we  have,  according  to  the 
tables  of  Abydos  and  Bunsen,  which  are  generally 
accepted,  three  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty  years 
before  Christ  as  the  time  in  which  Menes,  the  first 
monarch  of  Egypt,  reigned,  making  two  thousand  two 
hundred  and  thirty  years  as  the  period  of  the  Egyptian 
monarchy  before  the  reign  of  Rameses  II. 

But  I  contend  that  Egyptian  civilization  extends 
back  at  least  seven  thousand  years,  and  Miss  Amelia 
B.  Edwards,  the  Egyptologist,  who  has  recently  lec- 
tured in  our  Pennsylvania  University  course,  thinks 
ten  thousand  years  not  too  high  an  estimate.     In  sup- 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  97 

port  of  this  hypothesis,  the  great  antiquity  of  man, 
which  no  scholar  now  disputes,  carries  us  back  many 
thousands  of  years  beyond  Menes,  and  there  are  many 
facts  which  favor  the  assumption  that  the  valley  of  the 
Nile  was  one  of  the  places  inhabited  for  an  indefinite 
period.  The  works  of  art — monuments,  architecture, 
paintings,  etc. — show  an  antiquity  that  cannot  be  esti- 
mated. Manetho,  an  Egyptian  priest,  who  wrote  a 
history  of  Egypt,  by  request  of  Ptolemy  II.,  two 
hundred  and  eighty-six  years  before  Christ,  carries  us 
back  more  than  seven  thousand  years. 

The  Pentateuch  is  a  compilation  by  several  authors, 
and  hence  its  patchwork  character.  Professors  Ewald 
and  Kuenen  and  others  have  proved  this,  and  Dean 
Stanley,  of  the  English  Establishment,  has  admitted 
it.  Some  portions  may  have  been  compiled  eight 
hundred  or  nine  hundred  years  before  Christ,  but  not 
the  two  contradictory  accounts  of  the  creation  and  fall 
of  man.  The  Assyrian  cuneiform  tablets,  which  w§re 
discovered  in  1873  and  1874  a.  d.,  and  which  are  now 
in  the  British  Museum,  show  that  this  ancient  people 
had  this  story  about  two  thousand  years  before  the 
time  of  Moses.  The  Jews  learned  it  in  Babylon,  and 
none  of  the  other  Old-Testament  writings  contain  any 
notice  of  it,  because  it  was  not  known  until  after  the 
return  of  the  Jews  from  their  captivity  in  Babylon, 
five  hundred  and  eighteen  years  before  Christ.  Is  it 
not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  various  Old-Testa- 
ment writei*s  would  have  made  some  reference  to  the 
Pentateuch  had  they  known  of  its  existence?  Pro- 
1 


98  SKELETON  KEYS. 

fessor  Frangois  Lenorraant  of  the  National  Library  of 
France,  a  most  learned  archaeologist  and  palaeontologist, 
and  a  most  devout  Christian,  in  his  Beginnings  of  His- 
tory admits  that  the  Jews  borrowed  substantially  the 
story  of  the  creation  and  the  fall  from  more  ancient 
nations,  and  furnishes  the  original  copies.  The  le- 
gends recorded  in  Genesis  are  found  among  many  an- 
cient peoples  who  lived  many  centuries  before  Moses ; 
and  Berosus,  a  priest  of  the  temple  of  Belus,  who 
wrote  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  years  before  Christ, 
affirms  that  fragments  of  Chaldean  history  can  be  traced 
back  15  Sadi  or  1 50,000  years.  I  have  mentioned  these 
things  because  they  are  germane  to  what  is  to  follow. 

There  is  good  reason  for  thinking  that  the  book  of 
Deuteronomy  was  written  about  six  hundred  and 
twenty-one  years  before  Christ,  and  the  remaining 
books  of  the  Pentateuch  were  of  later  date,  coming 
down  to  four  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Christ. 
This  Professor  Kuenen  has  demonstrated  beyond  con- 
troversy in  his  Religion  of  Israel,  to  which  I  must 
refer  for  his  arguments  in  detail.  The  best  scholarship 
of  the  world  does  not  believe  that  what  is  called  the 
Law  of  Moses  was  written  prior  to  the  fifth  or  sixth 
century  before  Christ,  and  learned  men  in  Holland, 
Germany,  and  England,  as  well  as  the  most  advanced 
thinkers  in  America,  now  accept  this  opinion.  Pro- 
fessor Kobertson  Smith,  in  the  Encyclopcedia  Bntan- 
nica,  adopts  this  view,  and  Dean  Stanley,  in  his  Jewish 
Church,  does  not  leave  us  in  doubt  as  to  his  opinion. 

Take  the  following  as  an  example  of  what  I  mean 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  99 

(Gen.  12:6):  "And  the  Canaanite  was  then  in  the 
land  ;"  whereas  the  expulsion  of  the  Canaauites  did 
not  occur  until  several  centuries  after  the  death  of 
Moses,  when  this  must  have  been  written.  In  Gen. 
(36  :  31)  we  read,  "  Before  there  reigned  any  king  over 
Israel."  This  must  have  been  two  hundred  years  after 
the  death  of  Moses.  "  The  nations  that  were  before 
you "  (Lev.  13 :  8)  of  course  presupposes  that  the 
Canaanites  had  already  been  subdued.  "Now  the 
man  Moses  was  very  meek,  above  all  the  men  that 
were  upon  the  face  of  the  earth"  (Num.  12:13), 
could  hardly  have  been  written  by  Moses  himself. 
The  expression  "  unto  this  day "  frequently  occurs, 
and  shows  that  the  time  was  long  aft«r  the  events  took 
place.  It  is  also  implied  in  various  places  that  the 
writer  resided  in  Palestine,  and  so  it  could  not  have 
been  Moses.  In  Deuteronomy  (19  :  14)  we  read, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  remove  thy  neighbor's  landmark 
which  they  of  old  time  have  set  in  thine  inheritance." 
They  had  no  landmark  to  remove,  unless  this  was  writ- 
ten concerning  the  land  of  Canaan  long  after  the  death 
of  Moses.  They  are  reproached  for  not  keeping  the 
Sabbath  in  the  past  for  a  long  time,  and  this  is  given 
as  a  reason  for  the  Captivity ;  and  hence  Leviticus 
26  :  34,  35,  43  was  written  after  the  Captivity,  which 
began  in  597  b.  c.  In  Gen.  14  :  14,  Lot  is  taken  pris- 
oner and  rescued  from  his  captors,  whom  they  "  pur- 
sued unto  Dan."  Now,  there  was  no  such  place  as 
Dan  until  after  the  entrance  into  Canaan.  We  read 
in  Judg.  18  :  27,  29  that  this  city  was  called  Laish, 


100  SKELETON  KEYS. 

which  was  burned  by  the  Israelites,  and  then  they 
built  a  city,  and  they  called  it  "  Dan,  after  the  name 
of  their  father :  howbeit  the  name  of  the  city  was 
Laish  at  first."  This  "  trout  in  the  milk  "  is  as  strik- 
ing as  if  some  one  should  write  of  Chicago  when  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed.  In  Gen. 
36  :  31  we  read,  "  And  these  are  the  kings  that  reigned 
in  the  land  of  Edom  before  there  reigned  any  king 
over  the  children  of  Israel."  This  passage  shows  that 
it  was  written  after  there  had  been  kings  in  Israel,  and 
could  not  have  been  written  by  Moses.  I  could  show 
similar  incongruities  concerning  the  manna  in  Gen.  16  : 
35,  compared  with  Josh.  5:12.  So  Dent.  24 :  14 
must  have  been  written  after  the  entrance  into  Canaan, 
as  until  then  they  had  no  lands,  and  there  were  no 
gates  and  no  "  strangers  within  their  gates."  The  same 
might  be  said  of  the  fourth  commandment  of  the  Dec- 
alogue :  the  Israelites  had  no  gates  until  after  they 
entered  Canaan.  It  could  not  have  been  written  by 
Moses  in  the  wilderness  of  Arabia. 

These  illustrations  might  be  produced  indefinitely, 
but  enough  have  been  given  to  show  that  the  Penta- 
teuch was  written  several  hundred  years  after  the  death 
of  Moses,  and  that  we  are  justifiable  in  fixing  the  date 
for  most  of  it  in  the  fourth,  fifth,  or  sixth  century 
before  the  Christian  era.  The  Pentateuch  abounds  in 
duplicate  traditions  of  the  same  transactions,  and  also 
in  diversity  and  contradictions.  These  numerous  repe- 
titions are  fatal  to  the  supposition  that  it  was  written 
by  Moses.     If  Moses  was  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch, 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  101 

we  should  expect  to  find  a  good  many  hints  of  this  in 
other  parts  of  the  Bible ;  whereas  we  have  no  reference 
to  Sinai  and  its  awful  thunders,  and,  although  Moses 
is  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  it  only  shows  the 
existence  of  traditions  to  that  effect  at  that  time.  Not 
until  the  time  that  Christianity  arose,  about  thirteen 
hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Moses,  did  the  tra- 
dition obtain  currency  that  he  was  the  author  of  the 
Pentateuch. 

The  fact  is,  the  Jews  are  a  comparatively  modern 
people,  and  were  not  known  as  a  nation  until  the  time 
of  Alexander  the  Great  (356-325  b.  c),  and  Herod- 
otus, by  never  mentioning  them,  so  indicates.  While 
the  Hindoos,  Egyptians,  Grecians,  Romans,  Chaldeans, 
and  Babylonians  had  their  men  of  science,  literature, 
and  law,  whose  fame  only  brightens  with  the  flight  of 
time,  the  Jews  have  no  history  except  what  was  written 
by  themselves,  and  that  is  so  absurd,  impossible,  and 
contradictory  that  nobody  can  believe  it. 

Everybody  knows  that  the  ancient  Jews  were  the 
constitutional  imitators  of  other  peoples.  They  have 
always  been  the  second-hand  clothes-dealers  of  the 
world.  As  a  race  they  never  have  been  noted  for  orig- 
inality, but  have  always  been  ready  to  borrow  what 
belonged  to  other  people,  and  then,  with  characteristic 
self-complacency,  have  claimed  to  be  the  "original 
Jacobs"  of  everything  good  and  great.  We  intend 
this  as  no  reflection  upon  the  Jews  of  the  present  day. 

C.  Staniland  Wake,  an  English  writer,  in  his  great 
work  on  the  Eoolution  of  Morality,  vol.  ii.,  page  59, 


102    '  SKELETON  KEYS. 

thus  expresses  his  views :  "  Judging  from  this  fact, 
many  persons  imagine — or  at  least,  from  the  supersti- 
tious reverence  that  tliey  have  for  the  Decalogue,  appear 
to  do  so — that  until  the  time  of  the  Hebrew  lawgiver 
the  most  ordinary  rules  of  morality  were  unknown. 
The  mere  fact  of  Egypt  being  the  starting-point  of 
the  Exodus  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  disabuse  the  mind 
of  this  idea,  without  reference  to  the  contents  of  the 
code  itself.  But  the  moral  laws  given  in  the  Deca- 
logue are  of  so  primitive  a  character  that  it  is  absurd 
to  suppose,  except  on  the  assumption  that  the  Hebrews 
were  at  that  period  in  a  condition  of  pure  savagery,  that 
God  would  personally  appear  to  give  his  immediate 
sanction  to  them.  The  commands.  Honor  thy  father 
and  thy  mother,  Thou  shalt  not  kill.  Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery,  Thou  shalt  not  steal,  Thou  shalt  not 
bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor.  Thou  shalt 
not  covet,  were  simply  reiterations  of  laws  to  which 
the  Hebrews  had  been  subject  during  their  whole  so- 
journ in  Egypt,  and  which  must,  in  fact,  have  been 
familiar  to  them  before  their  ancestors  left  their  tra- 
ditional Chaldean  home." 

Then  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  Moses  himself  was 
an  Egyptian  by  birth,  and  that  he  was  brought  up  at 
the  court  of  Pharaoh  until  he  was  forty  years  of  age, 
and  in  Acts  7 :  22  we  are  told  that  "  Moses  was  learned 
in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  and  was  mighty 
in  words  and  in  deeds." 

The  whole  matter  relating  to  the  Pentateuch  is  thus 
summed  up  by  the  late  Prof.  John  Wm.  Draper,  M.  D., 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  lOST 

LL.D.,  late  of  the  University  of  New  York,  in  his 
Conflict  between  Religion  and  Science :  "  No  man  may 
dare  to  impute  them  (the  books  of  the  Pentateuch)  to 
the  inspiration  of  Almighty  God,  their  inconsistencies, 
incongruities,  and  impossibilities,  as  exposed  by  many 
learned  and  pious  modern  scholars,  both  German  and 
English,  are  so  great.  It  is  the  decision  of  these 
critics  that  Genesis  is  a  narrative  based  upon  legends ; 
that  Exodus  is  not  historically  true ;  that  the  whole 
Pentateuch  is  unhistoric  and  un-Mosaic:  it  contains  the 
most  extraordinary  contradictions  and  impossibilities, 
sufficient  to  involve  the  credibility  of  the  whole — im- 
perfections so  conspicuous  that  they  would  destroy  the 
authenticity  of  any  modern  historical  work."  ..."  To 
the  critical  eye  they  all  present  peculiarities  which 
demonstrate  that  they  were  written  on  the  banks  of 
the  Euphrates,  and  not  in  the  desert  of  Arabia.  They 
contain  many  Chaldaisms."  .  .  .  "From  such  Assyrian 
sources  the  legends  of  the  creation  of  the  earth  and 
heavens,  the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  making  of  man  from 
clay  and  the  woman  from  one  of  his  ribs,  the  tempta- 
tion of  the  serpent,  etc.,  .  .  .  were  obtained  by  Ezra." 
"  I  agree  in  the  opinion  of  Hupfeld,  that  the  discovery 
that  the  Pentateuch  is  put  together  out  of  the  various 
sources  of  original  documents  is  beyond  all  doubt,  is 
not  only  one  of  the  most  important  and  most  preg- 
nant with  consequences  for  the  interpretation  of  the 
historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament — or  rather 
for  the  whole  of  theology  and  history — but  it  is  also 
one  of  the  most  certain  discoveries  which  have  been 


104  SKELETON  KEYS. 

made  in  the  domain  of  criticism  and  the  history  of 
literature." 

But  not  only  do  the  laws  of  Egypt  antedate  the  laws 
accredited  to  Moses,  but  the  Hindoos  had  laws  which 
were  yet  more  ancient.  The  writings  of  Buddha,  who 
died  in  477  b.  c,  refer  to  older  books  and  quote  from 
them,  and  these  again  refer  to  still  older  books,  until 
we  reach  laws  which  existed  many  thousands  of  years 
before  the  Law  of  Moses,  as  the  laws  of  Manu  were 
drawn  from  the  "  immemorial  customs  "  of  the  nation 
and  constitute  a  kind  of  common  law.  "  The  most  ac- 
curate scholars  point  to  India  as  the  origin  of  Egyptian 
civilization,"  says  Le  Renouf,  the  learned  Egyptologist. 

If  Egyptian  literature  was  derived  in  a  remote  period 
from  India,  what  must  be  the  date  of  old  India's  laws 
as  compared  with  the  laws  of  the  Hebrews  ?  It  is  no 
wonder  that  Max  Miiller,  professor  in  the  orthodox 
University  of  Oxford,  says  (in  Chips,  vol.  i.,  p.  11): 
"After  carefully  examining  every  possible  objection 
that  can  be  made  against  the  date  of  the  Vedic  hymns, 
their  claim  to  that  high  antiquity  Avhich  is  ascribed 
to  them  has  not,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  been  shaken." 
The  same  learned  Sanskrit  scholar  says,  "  The  opinion 
that  the  pagan  religions  were  mere  corruptions  of  the 
religion  of  the  Old  Testament,  once  supported  by  men 
of  high  authority  and  great  learning,  is  now  as  com- 
pletely surrendered  as  the  attempt  at  explaining  Greek 
and  Latin  as  corruptions  of  Hebrew  "  {Science  of  Re- 
ligion, p.  24).     This  great  Sanskrit  scholar  admits  in 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  105 

many  places  in  his  voluminous  writings  the  greater 
antiquity  of  the  pagan  scriptures,  and  gives  many 
weighty  reasons  to  show  how  impossible  and  absurd 
it  is  to  suppose  that  they  have  been  changed  and  inter- 
polated to  adapt  them  to  more  modern  times. 

The  Vedas,  the  sacred  writings  of  the  Hindoos,  ac- 
cording to  Sir  William  Jones  the  Orientalist,  "  cannot 
be  denied  to  have  an  antiquity  the  most  distant." 
According  to  the  Brahmans,  they  are  coeval  with  the 
creation,  and  the  Sama-Veda  says,  "  They  were  formed 
of  the  soul  of  Him  who  exists  by,  or  of,  himself" 
The  Hindoo  laws  were  codified  by  Manu  and  copied 
by  all  antiquity,  notably  by  Rome  in  the  compilation 
or  digest  of  the  laws  of  all  nations  called  the  Code  of 
Justinian,  which  has  been  adopted  as  the  foundation 
of  all  modern  legislation.  I  could,  did  time  permit, 
furnish  the  laws  of  Manu,  the  Justinian  Code,  and  the 
Civil  Code  of  Napoleon  in  parallel  columns,  in  a  way 
to  show  their  common  origin  beyond  a  doubt.  Laws 
of  betrothal  and  marriage,  paternal  authority,  tutelage, 
and  adoption ;  property,  contract,  deposit,  loan,  sale, 
partnership,  donation,  and  testamentary  bequest, — all 
were  elaborately  promulgated  by  the  Code  of  Manu 
in  2680  slocas. 

Laws  were  arranged  under  eighteen  principal  heads, 
concerning  as  many  different  causes  for  which  laws  are 
enacted  :  Debts,  deposits  and  loans  for  use,  sale  without 
ownership,  gifts,  non-payment  of  wages,  agreements, 
sale  and  purchase,  disputes,  boundaries,  assaults,  slan- 
der, robbery  and  violence,  adultery,  altercation  between 


106  SKELETON  KEYS. 

man  and  wife,  inheritance,  and  gaming.  "  The  court 
of  Brahma  with  four  faces"  is  where  four  learned 
Brahraans  sat  in  judgment,  one  of  whom  was  the 
king's  chief  counsellor. 

One  of  their  trite  sayings  was,  "  When  justice,  hav- 
ing been  wounded  by  iniquity,  approaches  the  court, 
and  the  judges  extract  not  the  arrow  or  dart,  they  also 
shall  be  wounded  by  it." 

The  mode  of  conducting  lawsuits  was,  in  a  great 
degree,  similar  to  that  used  in  all  civilized  countries  of 
the  present  day.  The  oath  taken  by  witnesses  was  as 
follows :  "  What  ye  know  to  have  been  transacted  in 
the  matter  before  us,  between  the  parties  reciprocally, 
declare  at  large  and  with  truth,  for  your  evidence  in 
the  cause  is  required." 

"  The  witness  who  speaks  falsely  shall  be  fast  bound 
under  water  in  the  snaky  cords  of  Varuna,  and  be 
wholly  deprived  of  power  to  escape  torment  during  a 
hundred  transmigrations." 

Brahmaus  were  banished  forgiving  false  evidence, 
but  all  others  were  punished  by  blows  on  the  abdomen, 
the  tongue,  feet,  eyes,  nose,  and  ears,  and  in  capital 
cases  blows  were  inflicted  upon  the  whole  body. 

Some  of  the  moral  sayings  of  the  Hindoos  run  thus  : 
"He  who  bestows  gifts  for  worldly  fame,  while  he 
suffers  his  family  to  live  in  distress,  touches  his  lips 
with  honey,  but  swallows  poison.  Such  virtue  is  coun- 
terfeit. Even  what  he  does  for  his  spiritual  body,  to 
the  injury  of  those  he  is  bound  to  maintain,  shall  bring 
him  ultimate  misery,  both  in  this  world  and  the  next. 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  107 

''  Content,  returning  good  for  evil,  resistance  to  sen- 
sual appetite,  abstinence  from  illicit  gains,  knowledge 
of  the  Vedas,  knowledge'  of  the  Supreme  Spirit,  ve- 
racity, and  freedom  from  wrath,  form  the  tenfold  system 
of  duties. 

"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother.  Forget  not 
the  favors  thou  hast  received.  Learn  whilst  thou 
art  young.  Seek  the  society  of  the  good.  Live 
in  harmony  with  others.  Remain  in  thine  own 
place. 

"  Speak  ill  of  none.  Ridicule  not  bodily  infirmities. 
Pursue  not  a  vanquished  foe.  Deceive  even  not  thy 
enemies.  Forgiveness  is  sweeter  than  revenge.  The 
sweetest  bread  is  that  earned  by  labor.  Knowledge  is 
riches. 

"  What  one  learns  in  his  youth  is  as  lasting  as  graven 
on  stone.  The  wise  is  he  who  knows  himself.  Speak 
kindly  to  the  poor.  Discord  and  gaming  lead  to  mis- 
ery. He  misconceives  his  interest  who  violates  his 
promise. 

"There  is  no  tranquil  sleep  without  a  good  con- 
science, nor  any  virtue  without  religion.  To  honor 
thy  mother  is  the  most  acceptable  worship.  Of  women 
the  fairest  ornament  is  modesty." 

The  following,  from  the  laws  of  Manu  (lib.  iii.  Sloca 
55),  will  contrast  strangely  with  the  law  of  Moses  re- 
garding the  treatment  of  women  and  the  esteem  in 
which  they  should  be  held  ; 

"  Women  should  be  nurtured  with  every  tenderness 
and  attention  by  their  fathers,  their  brothers,  their 


108  SKELETON  KEYS. 

husbands,  and  their  brothers-in-law,  if  they  desire  great 
prosperity." 

"  Where  women  live  in  affliction  the  family  soon  be- 
comes extinct ;  but  when  they  are  loved  and  respected, 
and  cherished  with  tenderness,  the  family  grows  and 
prospers  in  all  circumstances." 

"  When  women  are  honored  the  divinities  are  con- 
tent ;  but  when  we  honor  them  not  all  acts  of  piety 
are  sterile." 

"The  households  cursed  by  the  women  to  whom 
they  have  not  rendered  due  homage  find  ruin  weigh 
them  down  and  destroy  them  as  if  smitten  by  some 
secret  power." 

"  In  the  family  where  the  husband  is  content  with 
his  wife,  and  the  wife  with  her  husband,  happiness  is 
assured  for  ever." 

That  there  were  many  trivial  things  in  the  ancient 
pagan  laws,  and  many  practices  prevailed  among  a 
portion  of  the  people  which  seem  idolatrous,  we  freely 
admit ;  but  the  same  is  true  of  many  of  the  Hebrew 
laws,  which  are  too  obscene  for  quotation  here.  We  also 
find  among  the  Hebrews  all  forms  of  nature-worshipy 
such  as  sun-worship,  tree- worship,  fire-worship,  ser- 
pent-worship, and  phallic-worship.  Of  this  more 
later  on. 

Besides  the  Hindoos  and  the  Egyptians,  there  were 
many  nations  more  ancient  than  the  Hebrews.  The 
Grecian  Argos  was  founded  1807  b.  c.  Athens  and 
Sparta  existed  1550  b.  c.     Then  there  were  the  Phoe- 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  109 

nicians,  a  maritime  people  who  flourished  more  than 
five  thousand  years  ago,  whose  monuments  and  inscrip- 
tions are  found  in  Palestine  to-day,  while  the  Hebrews 
have  left  us  neither  monument  nor  inscription.  The 
Chaldeans  established  a  monarchy  four  thousand  or 
five  thousand  years  ago,  and  three  thousand  five  hun- 
dred or  four  thousand  years  back  the  Assyrians  became 
masters  of  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris, 
and  from  these  people  the  Jews  got  all  they  ever  knew 
about  things  subsequently  recorded  in  the  Pentateuch. 

The  Jewish  and  Christian  religions  (for  they  are 
claimed  to  be  one)  are  next  to  being  the  youngest,  or 
most  modern,  of  any  of  the  great  religions  of  the 
world,  the  Mohammedan  being  the  last.  Each  claimed 
divine  authority  ;  all  had  their  lawgivers,  priests,  and 
prophets,  who  wrote,  as  they  claimed,  their  bibles  by 
divine  inspiration.  The  error  of  Judaism  is  in  claim- 
ing the  greatest  antiquity,  as  well  as  claiming  to  be  the 
only  religion  having  the  divine  sanction. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  mentioning  some  things  which 
cannot  be  regarded  as  wholly  irrelevant.  Moses  had 
a  very  remarkable  experience  in  his  infancy.  At  his 
birth  he  was  placed  in  an  ark  and  set  afloat  on  the 
Nile,  and  was  rescued  by  Pharaoh's  daughter,  who 
called  a  nurse  for  him  who  proved  to  be  his  mother. 
We  have  many  counterparts  of  this  in  Grecian  and 
Egyptian  mythology.  Perseus  was  shut  up  in  a  chest 
and  cast  into  the  sea  by  the  king  of  Argos,  and  was 
found  by  Dictys,  who  educated  him.  Bacchus  was 
confined  in  a  chest  by  order  of  the  king  of  Thebes, 


110  SKELETON  KEYS. 

and  was  cast  upon  the  Nile.  He  had  two  mothers — 
natural  and  adopted.  Osiris,  the  Egyptian  divinity, 
was  confined  in  a  coffer  and  thrown  into  the  river. 
He  floated  to  Phoenicia.  His  mother  wandered  in 
silence  and  grief  to  By  bios,  and  was  selected  by  the 
king's  servants  and  taken  to  the  palace,  and  was  made 
the  nurse  of  the  young  prince.  We  could  give  several 
other  parallel  cases,  but  we  pause  and  wonder  whether 
the  reported  experience  of  Moses  was  not  another  ver- 
sion of  the  same  myth. 

We  next  find  this  "  greatest  of  statesmen  and  law- 
givers" a  fugitive  from  justice  (Ex.  2:  11-15).  He 
had  killed  a  man  and  buried  him  in  the  sand,  and  when 
he  learned  that  the  murder  was  known  by  the  Hebrews, 
and  Pharaoh  sought  to  slay  him,  he  fled  to  the  land  of 
Midian  and  tended  the  flocks  of  Jethro,  a  priest,  until 
he  was  eighty  years  old.  He  knew  then  that  it  was 
wrong  to  kill  just  as  well  as  he  did  after  receiving  the 
Ten  Commandments ;  for  he  "  looked  this  way  and 
that"  to  find  out  whether  any  one  saw  him,  and  "he 
feared,  and  said,  Surely  this  is  known."  He  showed 
a  sense  o^  guilt.  He  always  seemed  afraid  of  Pharaoh 
on  account  of  this  murder. 

He  was  next  commissioned  to  deliver  his  brethren 
from  their  bondage  in  Egypt,  and  was  instructed  to 
say  that  "  I  Am  that  I  Am"  had  sent  him  (Ex.  3  :  14). 
Now,  it  seems  to  me  very  strange  that  Nuk-Pa-Nuk 
was  the  Egyptian  name  for  God,  and  means,  "  /  Am 
that  I  Am .'"  (Bon wick,  Egyptian  Belief,  p.  395).  This 
name  was  found  upon  an  Egyptian  temple,  according 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  Ill 

to  Higgins  (Anacalypsis,  vol.  ii.  p.  17),  who  says,  "I 
Am  was  a  divine  name  understood  by  all  the  initiated 
among  the  Egyptians ;"  and  Buusen  affirms,  in  his 
Keys  of  St.  Peter,  that  the  "  I  Am  of  the  Hebrews 
was  the  same  as  the  /  Am  of  the  Egyptians." 

There  is  another  peculiarity  about  Moses  that  seems 
strange  to  me.  In  his  statue  in  Fairmount  Park  he  is 
represented  as  having  horns,  and  he  is  so  portrayed  in 
the  statue  by  Michael  Angelo.  Now  the  sun-god 
Bacchus  had  horns,  and  so  had  Zeus,  the  Grecian  su- 
preme deity.  Bacchus  was  called  "the  Lawgiver," 
and  it  is  said  that  his  laws  were  written  upon  two  tables 
of  stone.  It  is  also  said  that  he  and  his  army  enjoyed 
the  light  of  the  sun  (pillar  of  fire)  during  the  night-time, 
and  he,  like  Moses,  had  a  rod  with  which  divers  mira- 
cles were  wrought.  The  Persian  legend  relates  that 
Zoroaster  received  from  Ormuzd  the  Book  of  the  Law 
upon  a  high  mountain.  Minos  received  on  Mount 
Dicta,  from  Zeus,  the  supreme  god,  the  law.  There 
are  many  such  cases.  Even  Mohammed,  it  is  said,  so 
received  the  Koran. 

Then  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea  by  Moses  and  his 
three  millions  of  absconding  slaves  "  dry-shod,"  and 
the  "  rock  in  the  wilderness  giving  forth  water  when 
struck  by  the  rod  of  Moses,"  both  have  several  par- 
allels. Orpheus,  the  earliest  poet  of  Greece,  relates 
how  Bacchus  had  crossed  the  Bed  Sea  dry-shod  at  the 
head  of  his  army,  and  how  he  "  divided  the  waters  " 
of  the  rivers  Orontes  and  Hydaspis  and  passed  through 
them  "dry-shod,"  and  how  he  drew  water  from  the  rock 


112  SKELETON  KEYS. 

with  Ms  wonderful  rod.  Professor  Steinthal  notes  the 
fact  "  that  almost  all  the  acts  of  Moses  correspond  to 
those  of  the  sun-gods"  It  may  seem  strange  that  the 
Hebrews  were  acquainted  with  Grecian  mythology,  yet 
we  know  this  was  the  fact.  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  M.  Wise 
says,  "  The  Hebrews  adopted  forms,  terms,  ideas,  and 
myths  of  all  nations  with  whom  they  came  in  contact, 
and,  like  the  Greeks,  in  their  way  cast  them  all  in  a 
peculiar  Jewish  religious  mould." 

Moreover,  there  are  strange  inconsistencies  and  con- 
tradictions connected  with  the  alleged  giving  of  the 
Law  to  Moses.  In  both  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy 
God  is  represented  as  speaking  the  words,  and  in  Deut. 
5  :  22  it  is  said  God  "  lorote  them  on  two  tables  of 
stone  "  after  speaking  them,  and  in  Ex.  24  :  28  Moses 
is  represented  as  doing  the  writing:  "And  lie  wrote 
upon  the  tables  the  words  of  the  covenant,  the  ten 
commandments."  We  here  find  a  hundred  command- 
ments, more  or  less,  of  a  ceremonial  character,  and 
only  one  of  the  original  ten,  the  one  relating  to  the 
Sabbath,  and  we  here  find  "  earing-time  and  harvest " 
made  a  season  of  rest  just  as  much  as  the  Sabbath. 
Then  there  are  different  reasons  given  for  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Sabbath  in  Ex.  20  and  Deut.  5 — the  one 
that  God  "  rested  on  the  seventh  day  "  after  creating 
all  things  in  six  days  (of  course  this  was  in  six  days 
of  twenty-four  hours  each,  else  there  was  no  perti- 
nency in  the  reason)  ;  and  the  other,  that  it  was  in  com- 
memoration of  the  deliverance  of  the  Hebrews  from 
the  bondage  in  Egypt. 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  113 

It  has  been  claimed  that  at  least  the  Sabbath  is  an 
institution  first  established  in  the  Decalogue  of  Exodus, 
and  yet  even  this  must  be  denied.  Evidences  of  the 
observance  of  the  seventh  day  as  sacred  are  found  in 
the  calendars  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  and  Assyrians, 
and  the  Records  of  the  Past  assert  that  Sabbath  observ- 
ance was  in  existence  at  least  eleven  hundred  years  be- 
fore Moses  or  Exodus  among  the  Accadians,  Chaldeans, 
and  Assyrians. 

There  are  also  great  variances  in  the  language 
of  the  two  accounts  in  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy, 
which  could  not  have  existed  if  copied  from  what  God 
had  written  in  stone.  The  second  table  of  stone  was 
an  exact  copy  of  the  first  (Deut.  10 : 2).  When 
Moses  got  excited  at  Aaron's  golden  calf  and  broke 
the  two  tables  of  stone  containing  the  Law,  and  God 
was  going  to  destroy  the  people,  Moses  dissuaded  him 
from  doing  so  by  telling  him  what  the  Egyptians 
would  then  say  about  him  !  (Num.  14  ;  13-16.) 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  first  commandment  is 
of  doubtful  monotheism :  Thou  shalt  have  no  "  other 
gods  before  me,"  implying  that  there  were  other  gods. 
Then  there  is  something  not  pleasant  in  the  idea  of  a 
"jealous  God,"  as  used  in  this  commandment  and  fre- 
quently in  other  places.  Contrast  this  with  the  Hindoo 
Geeta,  where  God  is  represented  as  saying,  "  They  who 
serve  even  other  gods,  with  a  firm  belief  in  doing  so, 
involuntarily  worship  Me.  I  am  He  who  partaketh 
of  all  worship,  and  I  am  their  reward."  God  is  de- 
fined in  the  Hindoo   Vedas  as,  "He  who  exists  by 

8 


114  SKELETON  KEYS. 

himself,  and  who  is  in  all  because  all  is  in  him ;  whom 
the  spirit  can  alone  perceive  ;  who  is  imperceptible  to 
the  organs  of  sense;  who  is  without  visible  parts, 
Eternal,  the  Soul  of  all  being,  and  whom  none  can 
comprehend."  "  God  is  one,  immutable,  without  form 
or  parts,  infinite,  omnipresent,  and  omnipotent."  No 
need  to  prohibit  the  making  of  a  "  graven  image "  to 
represent  such  a  god. 

Now  take  Moses'  description  of  God.  He  only  saw 
his  "  back  parts  "  (Ex.  33  :  22,  23),  and  God  held  his 
hand  over  him  when  in  the  cleft  of  the  rocks  while  he 
passed  by,  that  he  might  not  see  his  glory.  And,  while 
it  is  said,  "  Thou  canst  not  see  my  face ;  for  there  sliall 
no  man  see  me  and  live  "  (Ex.  33  :  20),  yet  "  the  Lord 
spake  unto  Moses  face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh  unto 
his  friend"  (Ex.  33  :  11).  He  was  with  him  in  the 
mountain  forty  days  and  nights,  and  saw  him  and 
talked  to  him,  and  so  did  at  least  seventy-three  other 
persons  (Ex.  24  :  9).  Yet  we  are  told  in  John  1:18, 
"  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time." 

Then  there  are  many  other  "  commandments  "  in  the 
Bible  which  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  "  Ten  Com- 
mandments," and  very  many  acts  regarded  as  criminal 
in  this  nineteenth  century  which  are  not  forbidden,  but 
indirectly  or  tacitly  sanctioned.  One  of  the  "Ten 
Commandments "  is,  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  but  hus- 
bands are  directed  to  hill  their  wives  if  they  propose  to 
them  a  change  of  religion,  and  killing  is  commanded 
in  numerous  instances  and  for  trivial  offences,  such  as 
picking  up  sticks  to  make  a  fire  on  the  Sabbath. 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  115 

Take  the  following  as  specimens  of  the  cruelty  of 
Moses : 

"  But  of  the  cities  of  these  people,  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  doth  give  thee  for  an  inheritance,  thou  shalt 
save  nothing  alive  that  breatheth"  (Deut.  20  :  16). 

Here  is  another  of  his  injunctions  :  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel,  Put  every  man  his  sword  by  his 
side,  and  go  in  and  out  from  gate  to  gate  throughout 
the  camp,  and  slay  every  man  his  brother,  and  every 
man  his  companion,  and  every  man  his  neighbor" 
(Ex.  32  :  27). 

Here  is  another :  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  I 
remember  that  which  Amalek  did  to  Israel  [some  four 
hundred  years  before],  how  he  laid  wait  for  him,"  etc. 
"  Now  go  and  smite  Amalek,  and  utterly  destroy  all 
that  they  have  ;  slay  both  man  and  woman,  infant  and 
suckling,  ox  and  sheep,  camel  and  ass"  (1  Sam.  15  :  2, 
3).  This  was  sweeping,  merciless  revenge  on  the  in- 
nocent. 

He  commands  the  Jews  to  swindle  the  Egyptians 
by  false  pretence,  "spoiling"  them  of  their  jewelry 
(Ex.  3  :  19-22).  He  authorized  them  to  take  usury 
of  strangers,  but  not  of  one  another ;  and  to  sell  the 
"flesh  of  animals  that  had  died  of  themselves"  to 
strangers  and  aliens,  but  not  to  run  the  risk  of  pois- 
oning themselves  (Deut.  14  :  21). 

In  the  affair  with  the  Midianites  Moses  was  more 
cruel  than  the  ojicers  and  common  soldiery.  He  was 
"toroth  with  them"  because  they  had  saved  all  the 


116  SKELETON  KEYS. 

women  alive,  and  required  that  they  should  go  back 
and  finish  the  brutal  butchery.  I  cannot  do  this  sub- 
ject justice  without  transcribing  a  large  portion  of 
Num.  31  : 

"And  they  warred  against  the  Midianites,  as  the 
Lord  commanded  Moses;  and  they  slew  all  the 
males. 

"  And  they  slew  the  kings  of  Midian,  beside  the 
rest  of  them  that  were  slain ;  namely,  Evi,  and  Rekem, 
and  Zur,  and  Hur,  and  Reba,  five  kings  of  Midian ; 
Balaam  also  the  son  of  Beor  they  slew  with  the  sword. 

"  And  the  children  of  Israel  took  all  the  women  of 
Midian  captives,  and  their  little  ones,  and  took  the 
spoil  of  all  their  cattle,  and  all  their  flocks,  and  all 
their  goods. 

"  And  they  burnt  all  their  cities  wherein  they  dwelt, 
and  all  their  goodly  castles,  with  fire. 

"  And  they  took  all  the  spoil,  and  all  the  prey,  both 
of  men  and  of  beasts. 

"  And  they  brought  the  captives,  and  the  prey,  and 
the  spoil,  unto  Moses  and  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  unto 
the  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel,  unto  the 
camp  at  the  plains  of  Moab,  which  are  by  Jordan  near 
Jericho. 

"  And  Moses,  and  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  all  the 
princes  of  the  congregation,  went  forth  to  meet  them 
without  the  camp. 

"  And  Moses  was  wroth  with  the  officers  of  the  host, 
with  the  captains  over  thousands,  and  captains  over 
hundreds,  which  came  from  the  battle. 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH:  117 

"  And  Moses  said  unto  them,  Have  ye  saved  all  the 
women  alive? 

"  Behold,  these  caused  the  children  of  Israel,  through 
the  counsel  of  Balaam,  to  commit  trespass  against  the 
Lord  in  the  matter  of  Peor,  and  there  was  a  plague 
among  the  congregation  of  the  Lord. 

"Now  therefore  kill  every  male  among  the  little 
ones,  and  kill  every  woman  that  hath  known  man  by 
lying  with  him. 

"  But  all  the  women  children,  that  have  not  known 
a  man  by  lying  with  him,  keep  alive  for  yourselves." 

"What  shall  we  say  when  we  remember  that  Moses 
found  a  refuge  with  the  Midianites  for  forty  years  when 
he  was  a  fugitive  from  justice  for  the  murder  of  the 
Egyptian,  and  the  Midianites  were  the  first  to  show  the 
Jews  hospitality  when  they  escaped  from  the  bondage 
of  Egypt?  Moreover,  Moses  had  married  a  woman 
of  Midian,  and  might  have  been  supposed  to  have  some 
regard  for  her  kinswomen.  It  cannot  be  claimed  that 
Moses  was  compelled  by  the  low  condition  of  the  people 
to  treat  the  Midianites  thus,  for  he  was  the  sole  author 
of  this  extreme  butchery  of  women  and  children,  and 
was  "  wroth  "  with  his  officers  for  not  committing  the 
atrocity  in  the  first  place.  True,  he  charges  the  women 
with  having  "  caused  the  children  of  Israel,  through  the 
counsel  of  Balaam,  to  commit  trespass  against  the  Lord 
in  the  matter  of  Peor ;"  but  this  could  not  justify  the 
butchery  of  some  forty-eight  thousand  women  and 
twenty  thousand  boys,  besides  the  old  men.     And  then 


118  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  thirty-two  thbusand  virgins  had  a  fate  worse  than 
death,  though  called  the  "  Lord's  tribute,"  and  the 
priests  got  their  full  share  of  the  spoil.  For  those 
who  would  justify  such  cruelty  and  wholesale  butchery, 
as  they  would  justify  famine  and  pestilence  the  effect 
of  natural  laws,  I  can  have  no  very  great  respect. 

It  has  been  said,  "  Cruel  as  many  of  the  Mosaic 
punishments  undoubtedly  were,  it  is  well  to  remember 
that  two  hundred  years  ago  the  criminal  code  of  Eng- 
land was  almost,  if  not  equally,  bloody.  If  Moses 
stoned  adulteresses  to  death,  it  is  not  very  long  since 
we  put  witches  and  Quakers  to  death,  while  in  many 
other  countries  the  stake  and  the  fagot  were  the  chief 
arguments  in  aid  of  orthodoxy.  It  would  not  be  just 
to  judge  of  the  punishments  inflicted  over  three  thou- 
sand years  ago  from  the  standpoint  of  the  present 
century,  when  the  Mosaic  dispensation  has  passed 
away  and  that  of  the  law  of  love  substituted.  There 
was  no  mercy  in  the  smoking  rocks  of  Sinai.  There 
was  nothing  but  the  law  in  all  its  sternness." 

This  is  all  very  well,  but  we  should  remember  that 
the  cruel  criminal  codes  of  modern  times  got  their 
cruelty  from  the  Mosaic  code.  "  Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  a  witch  to  live"  (Ex.  22 :  18)  was  one  of  the 
laws  of  Moses,  and  from  first  to  last  thirty  thousand 
witches  were  executed  in  Great  Britain  and  two  hundred 
thousand  in  Germany.  Sir  Matthew  Hale  pronounced 
the  death-sentence  on  a  "  witch,"  and  Blackstone,  the 
great  commentator,  thought  that  witchcraft  must  be 
real  because  the  Bible  said  there  were  witches  !   Scotland 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  119 

continued  to  burn  witches  until  1722,  and  Germany 
until  1780,  while  in  1515  there  were  five  thousand 
witches  burned  at  Geneva.  I  am  ashamed  to  speak  of 
our  own  hanging  of  witches  in  Massachusetts,  but  it 
is  very  well  known  that  it  was  done  by  authority  of 
the  law  of  Moses  :  "  A  man  also  or  woman  that  hath 
a  familiar  spirit,  or  that  is  a  wizard,  shall  surely  be 
put  to  death  :  they  shall  stone  them  with  stones  :  their 
blood  shall  be  upon  them  "  (Lev.  20  :  27).* 

Rev.  Rabbi  Hirsch  sums  up  his  conclusions  as  the 
result  of  his  study  of  the  Pentateuch  : 

"  The  non-authenticity  of  the  Pentateuch  is  shown 
by  the  work  itself.  It  is  indicated  by — (1)  The  im- 
possible occurrences  in  the  desert ;  (2)  The  various  con- 
tradictions and  repetitions,  as  in  the  descriptions  of  the 
festivals  ;  the  provision  of  the  officiators  for  the  sacri- 
fices ;  the  appropriations  of  the  tithes ;  the  rules  for 
sacrificing  the  first-born  children  to  Deity — the  law 
regulating  these  matters  varying  in  Deuteronomy  and 
Numbers ;  (3)  Certain  phrases  used,  as  "  up  to  the  pres- 
ent day,"  which  lose  all  significance  if  applied  to  Moses. 
Thus  the  book  itself  shows  not  one  author,  but  many. 

"  The  non-authenticity  of  the  Pentateuch  is  shown 
also  by  lack  of  reference  to  it  in  the  prophetical  and 
historical  books.  Jeremiah,  when  denouncing  in  un- 
measured terms  the  very  sins  prohibited  by  the  Deca- 
logue, never  uses  the  language  of  those  cardinal  rules 
of  morality ;  the  prophecies  show  no  trace  of  the 
priestly   ordinances;    and,  though   most  of  the  laws 

*  In  1865  the  witch-laws  were  yet  in  force  in  South  Carolina  I 


120  SKELETON  KEYS. 

refer  to  Sinai,  the  name  occurs  in  none  of  the  pro- 
phetical books. 

"  It  contains  old  songs ;  embodies  the  written  law 
or  judicial  decisions  of  the  Israelites  in  the  Book  of 
the  Covenant ;  springs  from  two  currents  of  history, 
the  Elohist  and  Jehovist,  the  former  composed  of  the 
younger  Elohist  of  the  South  and  the  older  Elohist 
of  the  North ;  shows  Deuteronomy  very  much  altered 
from  its  original  form  by  emendations  and  additions, 
being  formerly  without  the  first  four  and  the  closing 
chapters,  and  the  Levitical  Law  or  Priestly  Codex 
having  been  later  incorporated  with  Joshua  and  the 
books  of  Moses ;  and  lastly  it  is  marred  by  changes 
made  in  accordance  with  the  new  religious  spirit." 

We  know  very  little  about  Moses.  If  there  ever 
was  such  a  man — which  is  very  doubtful,  taking  the 
writings  accredited  to  him  for  authority — he  is  not 
shown  to  have  been  "  the  greatest  statesman  and  law- 
giver the  world  has  ever  produced."  Neither  have 
the  Jews  ever  developed,  in  ancient  or  modern  times, 
such  a  moral  character  as  a  people  as  to  justify  the 
supposition  that  they  had  a  great  and  inspired  leader 
among  them,  and  that  he  taught  them  anything  not 
well  known  for  many  centuries  before  to  more  ancient 
and  more  intelligent  nations. 

The  assumption  that  Moses  was  the  author,  under 
divine  guidance,  of  what  is  commonly  called  the  Ten 
Commandments,  about  one  thousand  four  hundred  and 
fifty-one  years  before  the  Christian  era,  is  assumption 
only,  without  a  particle  of  proof  to  sustain  it.     What 


MOSES  AND  THE  PENTATEUCH.  121 

are  commonly  called  the  laws  of  Moses  were  written 
by  some  person  or  persons  unknown  in  the  fifth  or 
sixth  centuries  before  the  beginning  of  Christianity. 
Most  of  the  matter  of  what  is  called  the  Pentateuch 
was  borrowed  from  older  and  wiser  nations — the 
Egyptians,  the  Hindoos,  the  Greeks,  etc.  But  for  the 
unbounded  credulity  on  this  subject  it  would  seem 
like  an  insult  seriously  to  discuss  the  question,  Which 
are  the  older  writings?  and,  Which  the  substantial 
copies?  Unless  a  man  is  ready  to  take  assumptions 
for  demonstrated  facts,  to  ignore  the  museums  and 
libraries,  to  question  the  conclusions  of  the  profound- 
est  antiquarians,  and  to  make  the  stream  of  history 
flow  backward,  he  must  admit  that  the  Hebrews  were 
the  borrowers.* 

*Thesubstance  of  this  chapter  was  published  in  March,  1890, 
in  An  Open  Letter  to  Hon.  Edward  M.  Paxson,  Chief-Justice  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  had  affirmed  in  a  lecture  before  the  Law 
School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  that  the  "  law  of  Sinai 
was  the  first  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge,"  and  that  "  Moses 
was  the  greatest  statesman  and  lawgiver  the  world  has  ever  pro- 
duced." 


CHAPTER  V. 

ANCIENT  SYMBOLISM  AND  MODERN  LITERALISM. 
"  Which  things  are  an  allegory." — Gal.  4  :  24. 

Worship  is  natural  to  man,  and  all  systems  of 
religion,  many  think,  received  their  cult  from  Nature- 
worship.  Typology,  mythology,  theology  followed  each 
other  as  the  links  of  a  well-forged  chain. 

Cicero  well  suggested  :  "  Do  you  not  see  how,  from 
the  beginning,  from  the  productions  of  nature  and  the 
useful  inventions  of  men  have  arisen  fictitious  and 
imaginary  deities,  which  have  been  the  foundations  of 
false  opinions,  pernicious  errors,  and  miserable  supersti- 
tions ?"  He  asserts  that  "  if  the  sacred  mysteries  cele- 
brated by  the  most  ancient  peoplas  were  properly  un- 
derstood, they  would  rather  explicate  the  nature  of 
things  than  portray  the  knowledge  of  the  gods." 
Plato  said  he  "  would  exclude  from  his  ideal  republic 
the  poems  of  Homer,  because  the  young  would  not  be 
able  to  distinguish  between  what  was  allegorical  and 
what  was  actual."  Proclus  alleges  that  even  Plato 
himself  drew  many  of  his  peculiar  dogmas  from  the 
symbolisms  of  the  ancients.  It  is  also  said  that  he 
was  curious  to  find  out  what  was  the  secret  meaning 
of  the  allegories  of  the  more  ancient  sages  and  philoso- 

122 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  123 

phers,  while  at  the  same  time  he  affirmed  that  what  he 
should  successfully  find  out  he  would  keep  to  himself. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  real  offence  of  Socrates  was 
in  publishing  to  the  common  people  the  wisdom 
secreted  by  other  teachers.  Heyne  has  truly  said 
that  "  from  myths  all  the  history  and  all  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  ancients  proceed."  Gerald  Massey,  in  his 
great  work  The  Natural  Genesis,  claims  that  it  is  only 
in  the  symbolic  stage  of  expression  that  we  can  expect 
to  recover  the  lost  meanings  of  priestly  dogmas.  These 
are  preserved  in  the  gesture-signs,  ideographic  types, 
images,  and  myths  scattered  over  the  world.  The 
symbolic  extends  beyond  the  written  or  spoken  lan- 
guage of  any  people  now  extant. 

He  well  says  that  "ancient  symbolism  was  a  mode  of 
expression  which  has  bequeathed  a  mould  of  thought 
that  imprisons  the  minds  of  myriads  as  effectually  as 
the  toad  shut  up  in  the  rock  in  which  it  dwells  is  con- 
fined." Myths  and  allegories,  anciently  unfolded  to 
initiates  in  the  mysteries,  have  been  ignorantly  adopted 
by  modern  priests  and  published  to  the  world  as  the 
literal  truth.  The  main  dogmas  of  modern  theology 
are  based  on  distorted  myths,  "  under  the  shadow  of 
which  we  have  been  cowering  as  timorously  as  birds 
in  a  stubble  when  an  artificial  kite  in  the  shape  of  a 
hawk  is  hovering  overhead."  Modern  dogmatic  the- 
ology is  largely  what  Mr.  Massey  has  tersely  called 
♦'fossilized  symbolism."  It  was  the  habit  of  the 
Oriental  mind  to  personify  almost  everything.  An- 
cient mystics  veiled  all  their  thoughts  in  allegory  and 


124  SKELETON  KEYS. 

draped  their  sacred  lessons  in  symbols.  They  invented 
many  poetic  riddles  and  fantastic  stories,  which  the 
initiated  knew  to  be  fanciful,  but  which  in  time  came 
to  be  regarded  by  the  masses  as  substantial  historic 
facts.  It  is  well  known  that  this  method  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  ancients,  but  played  a  conspicuous  part  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  that  its  baneful  influence  is  not 
yet  exhausted.  It  will  hereafter  be  shown  that  in  no 
writings  extant  can  be  found  so  many  illustrations  of 
the  symbolic  method  of  teaching  as  in  the  Jewish  and 
Christian  Scriptures.  Even  in  our  day  the  common 
people  have  not  outgrown  this  habit  of  personification, 
and  are  wont  to  tell  their  children  of  Santa  Claus  and 
Kriss  Kringle  who  bring  them  presents  at  Christmas- 
time, and  of  Jack  Frost  who  will  bite  them  if  they  go 
out  in  the  cold.  Modern  folk-lore  is  full  of  symbol- 
isms and  personifications,  as  real  to  multitudes  as  are 
the  mythical  stories  found  in  writings  supposed  to  con- 
tain an  infallible  divine  revelation. 

A  large  number  of  learned  authors  favor  the  theory 
that  all  systems  of  dogmatic  theology  are  mythic  sug- 
gestions of  the  phenomena  of  physical  nature,  postu- 
lated by  philosophers  and  poets  in  the  most  ancient 
periods  of  the  world.  They  maintain  this  hypothesis, 
in  part  from  the  well-known  fact  that  many  of  the 
most  widely-separated  peoples,  who  never  could  have 
had  any  intercourse,  directly  or  indirectly,  have  used 
the  same  imagery  and  substantially  adopted  the  same 
systems  of  religion.  This  suggestion  regarding 
Nature-worship    is   worthy  of  careful   and   reverent 


SYMBOLISM  ANI>  LITERALISM.  125 

examination.  Primitive  peoples,  living  mostly  in  the 
open  air,  were  brought  in  close  contact  with  external 
natural  objects  and  phenomena.  One  of  the  most  prev- 
alent forms  of  religion  in  ancient  times  was  tree-v>or- 
ship,  and  it  entered  largely  into  the  religious  thought 
of  the  ancient  Jews.  The  tree  furnished  the  food, 
mainly,  upon  which  our  race  in  its  infancy  depended 
for  subsistence.  The  grove  was  called  "  the  retreat  be- 
loved by  gods  and  men."  It  furnished  shelter  from 
storm,  and  shade  from  the  tropical  sun.  It  was  a  place 
of  rest  and  a  thing  of  beauty.  Mr.  Barlow,  in  his  ex- 
cellent book  on  Symbolism,  says  the  most  generally- 
received  symbol  of  life  was  a  tree.  It  was  insepara- 
ble from  the  ancient  conception  of  a  garden.  It  was 
the  "tree  of  life"  in  the  mythic  paradise.  It  was 
suggestive  of  passion  and  offspring  in  connection  with 
the  serpent,  which  was  an  emblem  of  male  virility. 
The  tree  has  many  suggestions,  not  only  in  it  leaves, 
but  in  its  fruit  and  mode  of  propagation.  The  sap  of 
certain  trees  has  an  exhilarating,  and  even  an  intoxi- 
cating, quality.  The  sacred  soma  was  taken  before 
reading  the  Vedic  hymns  "  to  quicken  the  memory." 
It  was  supposed  to  promote  spirituality  and  inspi- 
ration. Various  trees  and  plants  are  suggestive  of 
fertility  and  fecundity  in  man.  The  lotus  is  the 
flower  of  Venus.  There  is  a  "  language  of  trees  "  as 
well  as  "  language  of  flowers."  There  are  poetic  and 
symbolic  reasons  in  the  form  of  the  stems  and  shape 
of  the  leaves  for  the  display  of  orange-blossoms  as 
bridal  decorations,  as  thoughtful  botanists  can  readily 


126  SKELETON  KEYS. 

see.  Much  of  the  symbolism  of  the  Old  Testament 
is  identical  with  the  Eastern  tree-worship ;  and  with- 
out some  knowledge  of  this  form  of  imagery  much  of 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  must  remain  a  dead  letter. 
The  frequent  references  to  palms,  cedars,  oaks,  vines, 
mandrakes,  etc.  etc.,  are  vastly  significant  to  the  adept 
in  symbolism. 

The  Jewish  Bible  is  full  of  Nature- worship  to  all 
whose  eyes  are  not  veiled  by  sacerdotalism.  The  fact 
that  God  is  said  to  have  appeared  to  Moses  in  the 
burning  bush  is  suggestive  of  both  tree-  and  fire-wor- 
ship (Ex.  3  :  2).  Josephus  says,  "  The  bush  was  holy 
before  the  flame  appeared  in  it ;"  and  because  it  was 
holy  it  became  the  vehicle  of  the  burning,  fiery,  jeal- 
ous God  of  the  Jews.  Even  our  Christmas  evergreens 
contain  a  recognition  of  the  gods  of  the  trees.  The 
fact  is,  many  of  the  religious  rites  of  both  Jews  and 
Christians  are  but  slight  modifications  of  the  ancient 
Nature-worship,  as  all  well-read  men  know,  but  to 
which  truth  our  modern  theologians  are  as  blind  as 
bats.  Abraham,  the  alleged  progenitor  of  the  Jewish 
nation  (so  called),  is  represented  as  a  dissenter  from 
the  religion  of  his  native  country ;  yet  he,  and  his 
descendants  and  followers  after  him  for  hundreds  of 
years,  employed  the  same  religious  symbols  and  forms 
of  worship  used  by  the  people  of  Chaldea  and  other 
so-called  idolatrous  nations.  Read  the  solemn  arraign- 
ment of  the  "  chosen  people  "  by  the  prophet,  recorded 
in  Ezek.  16  :  15  to  the  end  of  that  chapter,  if  you 
would  have  proof  of  this  charge.     The  fact  is,  if  we 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  127 

treat  the  story  of  Abraham  and  other  so-called  Old- 
Testament  patriarchs  as  we  do  the  traditions  of  other 
nations,  we  shall  be  forced  to  give  it  an  esoteric  inter- 
pretation rather  than  a  literal  or  an  historic  one.  But 
more  of  this  farther  on. 

Serpent-worship  is  another  form  of  sacred  symbol- 
ism, and  has  an  intimate  connection  with  phallic  rites. 
The  serpent  was  not  at  first  a  personification  of  evil, 
but  of  wisdom,  and  is  so  used  in  our  New  Testament, 
"...  wise  (shrewd)  as  serpents,  harmless  as  doves." 
It  also  denotes  the  art  or  gift  of  healing,  and  was  not 
only  so  used  by  Esculapius,  but  also  by  Moses,  and  is 
recognized  as  a  type  by  Jesus  himself:  "...  And  as 
Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so 
must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  on  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal 
life"  (Num.  21:9;  John  3:14,  15).  Indeed,  the 
serpent  has  almost  universally  been  regarded  as  a  sym- 
bol of  immortal  life,  and  especially,  as  frequently  pre- 
sented in  ancient  sculptures,  with  its  tail  in  its  mouth, 
thus  forming  an  endless  circle.  This  idea  may  have 
been  suggested  at  first  by  its  tenacity  of  life,  and  its 
being  so  thoroughly  alive  in  all  its  parts,  its  body  and 
tail  moving  and  living  after  its  head  has  been  crushed ; 
and,  further,  from  the  periodic  renewal  of  its  skin, 
suggesting  a  new  and  continuous  life.  Then  there  are 
other  significant  qualities  in  the  serpent — viz.  its  power 
of  voluntary  enlargement  and  self-erection,  combined 
with  its  intense  gaze  and  wonderful  secret  of  fascina- 
tion and  its  noiseless  and  mysterious  movement — all 


128  SKELETON  KEYS. 

suggestive  of  the  spiritud.  It  is  also  a  symbol  of 
power  and  divinity,  and  as  such  was  embroidered  upon 
ancient  robes  and  flags  of  royalty.  Upon  a  decorative 
banner  recently  displayed  upon  the  walls  of  an  edifice 
in  Philadelphia  wherein  recently  met  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United 
States,  the  symbolic  serpent  was  prominent ;  and  those 
who  criticised  it  were  silenced  by  a  member's  pointing 
to  the  fact  that  the  serpent  is  engraved  upon  the  seal 
of  the  General  Assembly  itself.  Think  of  Presby- 
terians perpetuating  serpent-symbolism ! 

It  was  doubtless  the  emblematic  snakes  which  had 
been  used  in  Ireland  in  the  Druidic  worship,  before 
the  introduction  of  Christianity,  that  the  somewhat 
mythical  St.  Patrick  drove  out  of  the  "  Emerald  Isle  " 
— all  the  snakes  according  to  Romish  tradition,  now 
believed  by  millions  of  devout  worshippers  to  be 
strictly  historical,  though  known  by  priests  to  be 
mythical.  He  destroyed  the  emblematic  serpents.  It 
was  not  until  after  the  invention  of  the  talking  sub- 
tle serpent  that  tempted  Eve  in  Eden  that  the  serpent 
became  a  symbol  of  evil.  The  Jews  never  heard  of 
that  "  old  serpent  the  devil "  until  after  their  captivity 
in  Babylon.  We  must  not  fail,  however,  according  to 
the  Old  Testament,  to  give  King  Hezekiah  credit  for 
having  been  a  sort  of  Hebrew  St.  Patrick,  in  attempt- 
ing to  drive  serpent-worship  from  among  the  Israelites 
after  it  had  prevailed  among  them  for  about  seven  hun- 
dred years. 

In  a  line  or  two  we  sum  up  the  symbolism  of  the 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  129 

serpent,  as  has  been  suggested,  in  that  it  is  thoroughly- 
alive,  has  a  fiery  nature,  is  swift  in  motion,  and  moves 
without  hands  or  feet.  It  assumes  a  variety  of  forms, 
is  long-lived,  and  renews  its  youth  by  shedding  its 
external  covering,  and  at  pleasure  stands  erect,  en- 
larges its  size,  is  strong,  and  is  said  to  have  the  mar- 
vellous secret  of  fascination. 

Initiates  worshipped  only  the  qualities  or  principles 
symbolized  by  outward  forms,  while  the  ignorant  may 
have  really  worshipped  the  external  or  literal  object. 
Every  quality  in  the  objects  of  the  ancient  Nature- 
worship  has  suggested  a  religious  dogma,  which  was 
first  incorporated  into  ancient  systems  of  sacerdotalism, 
and  can  now  be  traced  in  an  occult  and  esoteric  sense 
in  all  bodies  of  modern  dogmatic  theology.  Ninety- 
nine  out  of  every  one  hundred  of  professional  ecclesi- 
astics are  as  ignorant  of  these  things  as  unborn  babes, 
while  the  select  few  know,  but  conceal,  the  truth.  The 
larger  class  are  honest  dupes  and  dunces,  while  the 
others  are  hypocrites  and   impostors. 

Phallicism,  the  worship  of  the  genital  organs,  was 
another  form  of  natural  symbolism.  Men  saw  that 
in  some  mysterious  way  the  race  was  propagated  by 
the  congress  of  the  generative  organs,  male  and  fe- 
male, and  soon  naturally  worshipped  them  as  at  least 
the  symbols  of  the  unknown  fecundating  power  of 
the  universe. 

This  form  of  symbolism  prevailed  in  the  most  dis- 
tant ages,  and  has  continued  in  many  countries  unto 
the  present  time.     Richard  Payne  Knight,  an  honor- 


130  SKELETON  KEYS. 

able  English  gentleman,  in  1 865  wrote  a  quarto  book, 
of  which  only  two  hundred  copies  were  printed,  en- 
titled A  Discourse  on  the  Worship  of  Priapus,  and  its 
Connection  with  the  Theology  of  the  Ancients,  in  which 
this  whole  subject  is  boldly  discussed,  and  phallicism 
illustrated  by  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  engravings, 
many  of  them  copied  from  actual  emblems  now  pre- 
served in  the  British  Museum  and  in  the  Secret 
Museum  in  Naples.  Major-General  Forlong,  of  the 
British  army,  has  also  fully  presented  this  subject  in 
his  recent  quarto  in  two  volumes,  entitled  Rivers  of 
Life  ;  or,  Sources  and  Streams  of  the  Faiths  of  Man  in 
all  Lands. 

It  would  doubtless  astound  many  modern  theolo- 
gians to  be  told  that  even  the  Jews  did  not  escape  the 
influence  of  this  form  of  Nature-worship,  and  that 
our  Bible,  especially  the  Old  Testament,  contains 
many  evidences  of  it ;  and  yet  it  is  a  fact.  Circum- 
cision was  no  doubt  an  offshoot  of  phallicism.  It  did 
not  originate  with  Abraham.  It  was  known  by  the 
Egyptians,  Abyssinians,  and  African  tribes  loug  before 
the  time  he  is  said  to  have  lived.  It  was  practised, 
according  to  Herodotus,  at  least  twenty-four  hundred 
years  before  our  era,  and  was  even  then  an  ancient 
custom.  When  Jacob  entered  into  a  covenant  with 
Laban,  a  pillar  was  set  up,  surrounded  by  a  heap  of 
stones  (Gen.  31  :  45-53),  which  was  a  phallic  emblem, 
and  frequently  used  in  the  Old  Testament.  Hebrew 
patriarchs  desired  numerous  descendants,  and  hence  the 
symbolic  pillar  was  well  suited  to  their  religious  cult. 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  131 

The  name  of  the  reputed  father  of  Abraham,  Terah, 
signifies  "  a  maker  of  images."  In  Amos  5  :  26  it  is 
said  that  the  Hebrews  in  the  wilderness  worshipped  a 
deity  known  by  a  name  signifying  "  God  of  the  Pillar," 
as  is  shoM^n  by  the  name  Baal  Tamar,  which  means 
the  "  fructifying  god."  The  Semitic  custom  of  giving 
sanction  to  an  oath  or  sacred  pledge  by  what  the  He- 
brews called  the  "  putting  of  the  hand  under  the 
thigh "  is  explained  by  the  Talmudists  to  be  the 
touching  of  that  part  of  the  body  which  is  sealed 
and  made  holy  by  circumcision.  The  translations  of 
the  Jewish  Scriptures  through  motives  of  delicacy  are 
full  of  these  euphemisms.  Professor  Joseph  P.  Les- 
ley, in  his  Man's  Origin  and  Destiny,  suggests  that 
phallicism  converted  all  the  older  Arkite  symbols  into 
illustrations  of  its  own  philosophical  conceptions  of 
the  mystery  of  generation,  and  thus  gave  to  the  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  human  body  those  names  which  con- 
stitute the  special  vocabulary  of  obscenity  of  the  pres- 
ent day.  Every  scholar  knows  it  to  be  a  fact  that 
certain  words  and  names  now  never  spoken  except  by 
the  vulgar  abound  in  the  original  Jewish  writings, 
and  are  partly  concealed  by  the  convenient  methods 
of  euphemism.  When  Abraham  called  his  servant  to 
take  a  solemn  oath,  he  required  him  to  lay  his  hands 
upon  his  parts  of  generation  as  the  most  sacred  and 
revered  parts  of  his  body  (Gen.  24  : 2),  and  Jacob, 
when  dying,  made  his  son  Joseph  take  the  same  form 
of  oath  (Gen.  47  :  29).  This  was  but  little  more  than 
the  equivalent  of  the  modern  custom  of  laying  the 


132  SKELETON  KEYS. 

hand  upon  the  heart  as  a  token  of  sincerity.  The 
proper  translation  of  what  the  servant  of  Abraham 
was  required  to  do  is  given  in  the  margin  of  Bagster's 
Comprehensive  Bible  thus  :  "  In  sectione  circumcisionis 
meae."  We  have  in  this  form  of  phallic  oath  an  im- 
portant suggestion  as  to  the  origin,  or  at  least  the  use, 
of  the  words  testimony^  testament,  testify,  and  their  cog- 
nates (testis,  a  witness),  which  cannot  fail  to  occur  to 
the  learned  reader,  but  wliich  cannot  here  be  fully  ex- 
plained. "  Oaute  lege  "  (read  carefully)  was  a  warning 
of  a  secret  or  concealed  meaning  which  esoteric  writers 
anciently  put  in  the  margin  of  their  books  when  they 
would  call  the  special  attention  of  the  initiated  to  what 
is  now  called  "  reading  between  the  lines."  Until  our 
readers  comprehend  this  hint  they  will  not  be  able  to 
understand  what  is  really  meant  by  the  "  testimony  " 
mentioned  in  connection  with  the  "ark  of  the  cove- 
nant," as  it  occurs  in  Ex.  16  :  34,  before  any  laws,  or 
even  altars,  were  known  in  Sinai  or  its  thunders  heard 
of.  In  this  hint  may  also  be  found  the  true  explana- 
tion of  David's  nude  dance  before  the  ark,  and  of  the 
attending  circumstances.  Scores  and  scores  of  proofs 
could  here  be  furnished  from  the  Old-Testament  Scrip- 
tures, showing  that  the  use  of  phallic  emblems  was 
the  rule  rather  than  the  exception  for  centuries  among 
the  Jews ;  and  the  idols  stolen  by  Rachel  (teraphim) 
need  no  longer  be  misunderstood,  nor  the  meaning  of 
the  wedges  upon  which  she  sat  and  refused  to  rise  when 
the  "  custom  of  women  was  upon  her  "  (Gen.  31  :  35). 
She  was  engaged  in  an  act  of  devotion.     General  For- 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  133 

long  asserts  that  at  this  present  day  Queen  Victoria 
of  Christian  England  rules  over  more  than  one  hun- 
dred millions  of  phallic  worshippers  !  Indeed,  more 
than  half  of  the  population  of  our  globe  still  wor- 
ship, as  symbols  of  fertility  and  fecundity,  the  gen- 
ital organs. 

A  correspondent  of  the  London  Times,  of  April 
8,  1875,  says:  "The  Eoman  Catholic  Church  still 
keeps  up  certain  suggestions  of  phallicism.  As  the 
ancient  temple  or  dagoba  was  the  womb  or  feminine 
principle  of  the  god  Siva  or  Bod  and  others,  so  the 
new  cardinal,  Archbishop  Manning,  was  after  his  ele- 
vation conducted  to  his  church,  which  is  here  entitled, 
in  its  relation  to  him,  bride  or  spouse,  he  calling  it 
sponsa  mea.  The  cardinal  was  called  the  bridegroom, 
and  the  advul  building  (the  shrine  of  St.  Gregory)  his 
spouse,  and  not  the  spiritual  Church,  which  is  called 
Christ's."  The  Times'  correspondent  further  writes  of 
this  "  sacerdos  magnus,"  as  he  is  termed,  going  to  meet 
his  spouse,  the  Church  :  "  He  stood  reverently  at  the 
door,  when  holy  water  was  presented  to  him  and  clouds 
of  incense  spread  around  him,  to  symbolize  that,  inas- 
much as  before  the  bridegroom  enters  the  bride-cham- 
ber he  washes  and  is  perfumed,  so  the  cardinal,  having 
been  espoused  to  the  Church  with  the  putting  on  of  a 
ring,  of  his  title,  holy  water  and  incense  were  offered 
to  him,  when  the  choir  burst  forth  with  the  antiphon, 
*  Ecce  sacerdos  magnus ' — '  Behold  the  great  sacer- 
dotal !'  "  We  are  thus  assured,  as  far  as  this  is  possi- 
ble, that  the  phallic  idea  and  a  phallic  faith  lie  at  the 


134  SKELETON  KEYS. 

base  of  this  creed ;  and  we  are  reminded  of  Apis  of 
the  Nile  entering  his  palace  for  his  works  of  sacrifice 
and  mercy — terms  applied  to  the  Great  Generator  or 
Great  Creator.  The  ancients  all  taught  that  their 
Great  One,  Manu,  •  Man,  or  Noh,  was  in  the  great 
ark  which  floats  in  the  midst  of  the  waters,  and  that 
the  whole  was  a  mystery  incomprehensible  to  the  un- 
initiated. He  who  is  lord  of  the  Christian  ark  is  the 
lord  of  all  nations,  which  the  great  sacerdos  or  pope 
claims  to  be.  He  was  till  very  lately  a  temporal  as 
well  as  a  spiritual  head  of  kings  and  nations.  So  no 
wonder  that  the  holder  of  the  rod,  baton,  or  banner, 
who  occupies  the  place  also  of  Moses  to  lead  his  flocks 
through  this  wilderness,  is  always  examined  as  to  his 
])hallic  completeness  before  being  confirmed  in  the 
pontificate.  This,  we  read  in  the  life  of  Leo  X.  by 
Eoscoe,  is  required  in  the  case  of  popes,  just  as  the 
laws  of  Moses  required  that  all  who  came  to  worship 
their  very  phallic  JHVH  should  first  prove  their 
completeness  as  men.  From  this  we  may  conclude 
that  eunuchs  or  incompetent  men  were  children  of  the 
devil,  or  at  least,  not  of  this  phallic  god — a  fact 
which  the  writer  of  Matt.  19  :  12,  and  the  Fathers 
Origen  and  Valentine,  and  a  host  of  other  saints  who 
acted  on  this  text,  must  have  overlooked.  Wm.  Ros- 
coe,  the  historian,  thus  writes:  "On  the  11th  of 
August,  1492,  after  old  Roderigo  (Borgia)  had  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Alexander  VI.,  and  made  his 
entrance  as  supreme  pontifi^  into  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  after  the  procession  and  pageants  had  all  been 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  135 

gone  through,  Alexander  was  taken  aside  to  undergo 
the  final  test  of  his  qualifications,  which  in  his  partic- 
ular case  might  have  been  dispensed  with."  The  his- 
torian of  course  alludes  to  his  numerous  progeny. 

The  author  expects  to  be  criticised,  and  perhaps 
charged  with  obscenity,  for  introducing  this  subject. 
But  it  has  been  well  said :  "  Prudery  and  pruriency 
are  frequently  companions,  equally  impure  and  cow- 
ardly ;  and  in  all  scientific  investigations  they  should 
be  disregarded  rather  than  conciliated."  The  ancients 
saw  no  impurity  in  the  symbolism  of  parentage  to  in- 
dicate the  work  of  creation.  What  is  divine  and 
natural  to  be  and  to  do  cannot  be  immodest  and  ob- 
scene. No  person  can  with  decency  and  propriety  im- 
pugn the  operation  of  Nature's  laws  to  which  he  owes 
his  existence ;  and  he  is  degraded  and  corrupt  above 
all  others  who  regards  that  law  as  essentially  sensual. 
Phallicism  meant  no  wrong  until  sensuality  and  im- 
purity of  life  suggested  that  to  mention  it  was  indec- 
orous. No  clean  and  chaste  mind  can  be  shocked  by 
the  most  obvious  laws  of  nature.  Lydia  Maria  Child 
and  other  grand  women  have  written  brave  words  on 
this  subject  which  silly  prudes  would  do  well  to  study, 
if,  indeed,  they  ever  read  anything  beyond  a  lascivious 
French  novel.  Women  only  expose  their  ignorance 
when  they  are  reddened  with  blushes  at  the  mention 
of  phallic  worship,  and  at  the  same  time  wear  the 
mystic  horse-shoe  or  the  crescent  upon  their  immacu- 
late bosoms,  eat  hot  cross-buns,  dance  around  the  May- 
pole, and  worship  beneath  the  church  steeple.     Even 


136  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  vestments  of  priests  are  ornamented  with  phallic 
emblems  ;  and  one  can  hardly  go  abroad  without  be- 
holding things  which  show  how  innocently  and  uncon- 
sciously "the  records  of  the  past"  are  preserved  in 
church  architecture,  ecclesiastical  rites,  and  many  other 
things  daily  before  our  eyes — well  understood  by 
really  learned  men,  but  to  the  true  origin  and  signif- 
icance of  which  the  masses  are  totally  blind.  There 
are  churches  in  Philadelphia,  and  elsewhere,  even 
among  those  who  call  themselves  liberal,  which  are 
ornamented  with  all  the  emblems  of  the  ancient  Nature- 
worship,  especially  sun-worship  and  phallus- worship. 
The  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union  held  a 
great  meeting  recently  at  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.,  and  in- 
nocently used  a  programme  decorated  with  the  horseshoe 
and  many  other  phallic  emblems.  They  had  the  cat 
seated  on  the  crescent,  which,  according  to  Egyptian 
mythology,  said,  "  We  are  virgins,  but  nevertheless 
desire  that  commerce  which  eventuates  in  offspring." 
They  had  the  emblematic  hare  also,  which  always 
denotes  fecundity,  and  many  other  emblems  not  to  be 
mentioned  in  polite  society.  Even  our  ordinary  play- 
ing-cards, over  which  so  much  precious  time  is  wasted, 
are  distinguished  by  phallic  symbols  ! 

Passing  by  the  symbolism  of  fire-worship  prev- 
alent in  nearly  all  ancient  lands,  and  omitting  to 
notice  ancestor-worship,  the  worship  of  the  sun, 
which  embraces  nearly  all  the  forms  of  Nature- 
worship,  now  claims  our  attention.  It  should  be  kept 
in   mind  what   has  already  been  intimated,  that  the 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  137 

use  of  natural  objects  in  worship  is  not  necessarily 
idolatrous. 

The  priests  of  Chaldea,  Babylonia,  Hindostan,  and 
Egypt  disclaimed  the  actual  worship  of  the  material 
objects  prominent  in  their  rituals,  and  held  that  these 
visible  signs  were  necessary  for  the  vulgar  to  contem- 
plate, while  intelligent  worshippers  fixed  their  spirit- 
ual eyes  upon  the  thing  or  principle  signified  by  the 
sign.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  well  understands 
this  principle,  and  by  its  appeal  to  the  ear  and  eye  of 
uneducated  people  attracts  them  to  its  gorgeous  temples 
and  holds  them  in  loyal  subjection  to  the  priests. 
Take  the  following  as  an  illustration  of  the  ancient 
customs  referred  to : 

"  Mr.  F.  Buckland  tells  us,  in  Land  and  Water, 
that  on  the  first  of  May  all  the  choristers  of  Magdalen 
College,  Oxford,  still  meet  on  the  summit  of  their 
tower,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  sing  a 
Latin  hymn  as  the  sun  rises,  whilst  the  final  peal 
of  ten  bells  simultaneously  welcomes  the  gracious 
Apollo.  In  former  days  high  mass  was  held  here, 
and  the  rector  of  Slymbridge,  in  Gloucestershire,  it 
appears,  still  has  to  pay  ten  pounds  yearly  for  the  one 
performance  of  sundry  pieces  of  choir-music  at  5  A.  M. 
on  the  top  of  this  tower.  This  May  music.  Christian 
priests  explain,  is  for  the  repose  of  the  souls  of  kings 
and  others,  which,  of  course,  is  quite  an  after-thought. 
Early  mass  for  Sol  used  also  to  be  held  in  the  college 
chapel,  but  it  is  now  explained  that,  owing  to  this 
having  been  forbidden  at  the  Reformation,  it  has  since 


138  SKELETON  KEYS. 

been  performed  at  the  top  of  the  tower.  After  the 
present  hymn  is  sung  by  the  choristers — boys  dressed 
in  womanly  raiment — the  lads  throw  down  eggs  upon 
the  crowd  beneath,  and  blow  long  loud  blasts  to  Sol 
through  bright  new  tin  horns — showing  us  that  the 
Bacchic  and  Jewish  trumpet  f^tes  are  not  yet  forgotten 
by  Christians.  Long  before  daybreak  the  youths  of 
both  sexes  used  to  rise  and  go  to  a  great  distance  to 
gather  boughs  and  flowers,  and  reach  home  at  sunrise 
to  deck  all  doors,  windows,  and  loved  spots.  .  .  .  Long 
before  man  was  able  to  appreciate  ploughing  and  har- 
vesting, he  keenly  felt  the  force  of  the  winter  and  of 
the  vernal  equinox,  and  was  ready  to  appreciate  the 
joyous  warmth  of  the  sun  and  its  energizing  power  on 
himself,,  as  well  as  on  fruits  and  flowers." 

While  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Bibles  contain 
traces  of  all  forms  of  the  ancient  Nature-worship, 
there  is  one  form  that  is  specially  conspicuous  from 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  to  the  last  of  Revelation — 
to  wit,  the  worship  of  the  sun. 

This  form  of  worship  was  more  general  among 
pagan  nations  than  any  other.  It  was  natural  for 
those  primitive  people,  leading  pastoral  lives  in  the 
open  air,  to  fix  their  attention  upon  the  sun  and  to 
notice  his  relations  to  other  celestial  orbs.  It  was 
natural  for  the  contemplative  and  devout  to  come  to 
regard  the  sun  as  the  best  emblem  of  the  creating, 
animating,  fecundating  spirit  of  the  universe,  while 
the  ignorant  multitude  may  never  have  looked  beyond 
the  material  object.     Those  who  have  read  the  history 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  139 

of  the  sun-worshippers  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  detailed 
in  the  great  works  of  Prescott,  must  have  been  im- 
pressed by  the  fact  that  these  nations  enjoyed  a  higher 
prosperity  and  a  purer  public  morality  when  they  were 
worshippers  of  the  sun  than  they  have  ever  enjoyed 
since  under  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  called 
Christian. 

To  fully  understand  how  the  astronomical  element 
came  to  be  extensively  incorporated  into  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  religions,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
familiarize  ourselves  with  that  ancient  pictorial  device 
known  as  the  solar  zodiac. 

This  is  nothing  more  than  an  imaginary  belt  cover- 
ing that  region  of  the  starry  heavens  within  the  bounds 
of  which  the  apparent  motions  of  the  sun,  moon,  and 
many  other  large  planets  are  observed.  It  is  divided 
into  twelve  equal  parts  of  thirty  degrees  each,  called 
"  signs,"  known  as  "  constellations  "  and  designated  as 
follows : 

Aries,  the  Ram  or  Lamb ;  Taurus,  the  Bull ;  Ge- 
mini, the  Twins ;  Cancer,  the  Crab ;  Leo,  the  Lion ; 
Virgo,  the  Virgin ;  Libra,  the  Balance ;  Scorpio,  the 
Scorpion ;  Sagittarius,  the  Archer ;  Capricornus,  the 
Goat ;  Aquarius,  the  Water-carrier ;  Pisces,  the 
Fishes. 

These  constellations  are  filled  up  with  imaginary 
forms  of  men,  women,  animals,  monsters,  and  many 
fantastic  figures,  each  including  a  group  of  stars.  In 
the  ancient  astronomy  these  groups  numbered  thirty- 
six,   to   which    many    modern    additions    have    been 


THE  ZODIAC. 


142  SKELETON  KEYS. 

made.  Through  these  constellations  passes  a  wavy 
line  called  the  Ecliptic,  apparently  marking  the  path 
of  the  sun,  but  really  indicating  the  path  of  our  own 
earth  around  the  sun.  The  sun  seems  to  move  thirty 
degrees  a  month,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  appears  at 
the  point  from  which  he  started.  We  thus  have  a 
natural  belt  or  way  about  sixteen  degrees  wide  extend- 
ing around  the  entire  heavens,  one  half  the  year  north, 
and  the  other  half  south,  of  the  equator.  But  the 
sun  does  not  cross  the  equator  at  the  same  point  each 
year,  so  that  in  crossing  he  is  not  always  in  the  same 
sign.  The  sun  seems  to  recede,  and  as  the  apparent 
recession  of  the  sun  is  caused  by  the  real  movement 
of  the  earth,  the  phenomenal  result  is  the  precession 
of  the  equinoxes ;  and  as  the  equinoctial  point  recedes 
in  a  fixed  ratio,  this  point  will  go  back  through  the 
whole  circle  of  the  constellations  in  about  twenty-five 
thousand  years,  requiring  about  twenty-one  hundred 
and  sixty  years  to  pass  through  each  sign.  According 
to  the  ancient  astrology,  the  sun  assumed  at  diflPerent 
times  the  character  of  the  particular  sign  through 
which  it  passed,  and  as  such  was  symbolically  wor- 
shipped. Four  thousand  years  ago  the  sign  Taurus 
gave  rise  to  the  worship  of  the  Bull  (the  Egyptian 
Apis) ;  and  when  the  sun  passed  into  the  sign  of 
Aries  the  Lamb,  this  emblem  dominated  the  wor- 
ship of  Persians  and  other  sun-worshippers,  and  so 
became  the  paschal  or  passover  lamb  of  the  ancient 
Hebrews. 

You  will  now  begin  to  see  what  this  zodiacal  device 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  143 

has  to  do  with  our  interpretations  of  the  Bible.  The 
Jewish  Scriptures  also  contain  it,  and,  as  will  soon  be 
made  to  appear,  it  is  impossible  to  make  sense  of  large 
portions  of  the  Bible  without  it. 

Many  superficial  persons  imagine  this  peculiar  map- 
ping of  the  celestial  heavens  to  be  a  modern  fancy,  be- 
cause it  is  found  in  modern  almanacs  and  in  the  maps 
and  charts  of  modern  school-books ;  but  the  fact  is 
that  it  is  so  old  and  so  universal  that  it  is  impossible 
to  ascertain  with  historical  accuracy  when  and  where 
and  how  it  did  originate.  There  are  two  ancient 
zodiacs — one  at  Esne  on  the  Nile,  and  one  in 
India — besides  two  more  modern  ones  at  Denderah 
in  Egypt.  Sir  William  Drummond,  who  wrote  in 
1811,  estimated  the  age  of  the  one  at  Esne  at  about 
6500  years  ;  Dupuis  made  it  1000  years  older ;  while 
other  calculations  date  the  Indian  zodiac  back  22,875 
years,  and  the  Egyptian  one  30,100  years.  These  cal- 
culations are  based  upon  the  assumption  that  the  signs 
were  in  a  certain  position  at  certain  known  times,  so 
that  the  computation  is  one  of  simple  mathematical 
astronomy.  The  credibility  of  these  calculations  is 
strengthened  by  the  following  fact:  Upon  the  coffin 
of  an  Egyptian  mummy,  now  in  the  British  Museum, 
is  found  a  zodiac  with  the  precise  indication  of  the 
position  of  the  constellations  in  the  year  1722  B.  c. 
Our  own  Professor  Mitchell  calculated  the  exact  posi- 
tion of  the  celestial  bodies  belonging  to  our  solar  sys- 
tem at  the  time  indicated,  and  found  that  on  October 
7,  1722  B.  c,  the  planets  had  actually  occupied  the 


144  SKELETON  KEYS. 

position  in  the  heavens  marked  upon  the  mummy 
coffin ! 

But  further  proofs  are  superfluous,  as  the  zodiacal 
designs  must  be  much  older  than  the  Bible  or  they 
could  not  have  been  so  frequently  used  in  it. 

The  Chaldean  drama  called  the  book  of  Job  is 
supposed  by  some  persons  to  be  very  ancient,  and  its 
author  showed  his  familiarity  with  the  zodiacal  con- 
stellations when  he  so  sublimely  challenged  his  oppo- 
nent :  "  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influences  of  the 
Pleiades,  or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion  ?"  "  Canst  thou 
bring  forth  Mazzaroth  ?"  etc.  etc.  But  can  there  be  any 
doubt  as  to  the  antiquity  of  the  zodiac  when  there  is 
an  honored  Protestant  doctor  of  divinity,  now  living, 
who  holds  to  the  opinion  that  Enoch,  or  even  Adam 
himself,  invented  the  zodiac  to  foreshadow  the  redemp- 
tion of  fallen  man  through  the  birth,  death,  resurrec- 
tion, and  ascension  of  a  veritable  God?  Martin 
Luther  is  said  to  have  thrown  his  inkstand  at  the 
head  of  the  devil.  If  the  lusty  old  Reformer  could 
now  visit  this  world,  he  would  denounce  in  unmeasured 
terms  of  righteous  wrath  a  man  who  under  the  garb  of  a 
Lutheran  minister  could  utter  such  consummate  non- 
sense. And  yet  we  must  not  forget  that  Dr.  Martin 
Luther  himself  denounced  Copernicus  as  an  atheist 
and  a  fool. 

It  is  the  misfortune  of  the  prevalent  dogmatic  the- 
ology that  it  was  formed  by  people  who  held  the  geo- 
centriG  theory — that  is,  that  this  little  globe  is 
the  centre  of  the  universe.     Even  now  our  profes- 


SYMBOLISM  AND  LITERALISM.  145 

sional  priests  seldom  extend  their  thoughts  beyond  the 
narrow  limits  of  the  planet  upon  which  we  dwell. 
They  do  not  realize  that,  while  the  earth  travels  at 
the  rate  of  68,000  miles  an  hour.  Mercury  makes 
110,000  miles  an  hour,  and  that  the  sun  has  1,380,000 
times  our  earth's  bulk,  and  has  a  diameter  of  822,000 
miles  to  our  earth's  8000 ;  and  that  astronomers  have 
some  knowledge  of  a  fixed  star  in  the  constellation  of 
the  Swan  which  is  62,481,500,000,000  (62  trillions 
481  billions  500  millions)  of  miles  from  this  planet, 
and  that  light,  which  travels  from  the  sun  to  the  earth 
in  eight  minutes,  would  require  ten  years  to  reach  us 
from  that  star.  Yet  the  author  of  the  Gospel  in  the 
Stars  thinks  the  whole  celestial  universe  was  so  con- 
structed as  to  shadow  forth  the  dogmas  of  petty 
preachers  of  modern  times!  One  can  only  laugh  at 
such  fanciful  follies. 


10 


CHAPTER  YI. 

ASTRAL  KEYS  TO  BIBLE  STORIES. 
"  Therefore  they  took  a  key  and  opened  them." — Judg.  3 :  25. 

It  is  the  carefully-formed  conclusion  of  many  inde- 
pendent thinkers  that  there  is  very  little  real  history  or 
biography  in  the  Old-Testament  Scriptures.  It  is  a 
monstrous  mistake  in  modern  ministers  to  take  as  lit- 
eral what  is,  in  fact,  strictly  allegorical.  The  figura- 
tive character  of  most  of  the  Bible  narratives  was  well 
known  and  freely  admitted  by  many  ancient  writers, 
Jewish  and  Christian,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter. 

It  would  be  natural  to  commence  our  studies  of 
Hebrew  symbolism  with  the  account  of  the  creation 
and  alleged  fall  of  man  ;  but  as  this  dogma  is  so 
directly  connected  with  the  dogmas  of  modern  sacer- 
dotalism, we  reserve  the  examination  of  the  so-called 
Mosaic  account  of  Eden  and  the  fall  until  we  are 
ready  to  enter  upon  what  is  called,  in  theological  par- 
lance, "  the  redemptive  scheme  "  of  Christianity.  We 
say  so-called  Mosaic  account,  for  there  are  many  rea- 
sons for  doubting,  as  I  have  shown,  that  he  wrote  the 
Pentateuch,  should  his  existence  be  admitted  for  the 
sake  of  argument.  Archbishop  Burnet,  in  speaking 
of  the  story  of  creation,  says :  "  We  receive  this  his- 

146 


THE  KEYS  APPLIED.  147 

tory  without  examination,  because  it  was  written  by 
Moses ;  but  if  we  had  found  it  in  the  work  of  a 
Greek  philosopher,  a  rabbi,  or  Mohammedan,  our 
minds  would  be  arrested  at  every  step  by  doubts  and 
objections.  This  difference  in  our  judgment  does  not 
come  from  the  nature  of  the  facts ;  it  comes  from  the 
opinion  we  have  of  Moses,  whom  we  believe  to  be 
inspired."  Here  are  three  assumptions  not  supported 
by  a  particle  of  evidence,  to  wit :  that  such  a  man  as 
Moses  existed,  that  he  was  supernaturally  inspired, 
and  that  he  wrote  Genesis  and  other  V^ooks  of  the 
Pentateuch  under  divine  inspiration.  Now,  we  have 
no  account  of  the  real  existence  of  Moses,  and  no 
account  of  what  he  did  and  said  except  from  writings 
accredited  to  him  and  the  incidental  mention  of  him 
in  the  New  Testament.  His  alleged  wonderful  ex- 
ploits in  Egypt  are  not  mentioned  in  Egyptian  annals 
nor  in  any  other  contemporaneous  writings,  while  many 
things  said  of  him  in  the  Old  Testament  are  substan- 
tially recorded  of  many  other  persons,  as  already  shown. 
There  are  many  reasons  for  believing  that  Moses 
was  a  personification  of  the  sun  and  his  whole  history 
a  myth.  Observing  persons  cannot  fail  to  notice  that 
all  ancient  paintings  and  statues  of  Moses  represent 
him  with  horns,  probably  originally  denoting  the  rays 
of  the  sun  when  in  the  constellation  Taurus  the  Bull. 
The  fact  is  well  known  that  what  is  called  the  history 
of  the  Jews  is  mainly  fiction,  and  that,  too,  borrowed 
from  other  peoples  and  modified  to  suit  circumstances ; 
and  very  bungling  work  have  they  made  of  it !     The 


148  SKELETON  KEYS. 

sacerdotal  ists  of  the  world  may  be  safely  challenged  to 
produce  anything  strictly  original  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, especially  relating  to  morals.  The  historian 
Josephus  admits  that  the  Jews  "  never  invented  any- 
thing useful."  Even  the  writings  of  Josephus  should 
be  received  with  many  grains  of  allowance.  He  was 
himself  superstitious  and  credulous,  as  shown  in  his 
story  of  a  heifer  giving  birth  to  a  lamb  when  being  led 
from  the  temple  stable  to  the  altar.  Moreover,  we  have 
no  ancient  certified  copies  of  what  he  did  actually  write, 
and  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  alterations  and  in- 
terpolations in  his  alleged  writings  by  sacerdotalists  in 
modern  times.  There  is  no  greater  imposition  palmed 
off  upon  the  ignorant  than  the  commonly-believed  false- 
hoods that  the  Jews  were  a  very  ancient  people  and 
that  their  Scriptures  are  the  oldest  book  extant. 

We  now  take  up  a  few  Bible  stories,  and  give  to 
them  a  symbolic  instead  of  an  historic  interpretation ; 
and  for  obvious  reasons  we  begin  with  the  alleged  pro- 
genitor of  the  Jewish  nation,  Abraham. 

It  may  or  may  not  be  a  mere  coincidence  that  by 
transposing  the  letters  of  the  name  Abraham  we  have 
the  name  Brahma — just  as  in  the  old  legend  of 
the  sacrifice  of  the  daughter  of  Agamemnon,  Iphthi- 
genia,  if  we  divide  the  syllables  into  words,  Iphthi-geni, 
we  have  literally  Jephthah's  daughter ;  so,  after  all, 
it  may  be  greatly  to  the  credit  of  Jephthah  that  the 
story  is  fabulous.  These  curious  coincidences  are  not 
here  offered  as  evidence.     It  is  acknowledged,  at  least 


THE  KEYS  APPLIED.  149 

by  implication,  in  the  Bible  itself  that  the  story  of 
Abraham  is  of  Chaldean  origin,  as  his  father  Terah 
was  a  native  of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  and  the  alleged 
patriarch  was  a  Chaldean.  Now,  these  people  were 
great  astronomers  in  very  ancient  times,  and  were  ac- 
customed to  veil  their  occult  science  under  just  such 
allegorical  personifications  and  fabulous  tales  as  this 
of  Abraham.  Paul,  or  whoever  wrote  the  Epistle 
credited  to  him,  lets  out  the  whole  secret  (Gal.  4  :  22— 
26) :  "  For  it  is  written  Abraham  had  two  sons,  one 
by  a  bondmaid,  the  other  by  a  free  woman.  But  he 
who  was  of  the  bondwoman  was  born  after  the  flesh, 
but  he  of  the  free  woman  was  by  promise;  which 
things  are  an  allegory"  etc.  Now,  if  you  carefully 
read  the  apostolic  explanation  in  these  verses,  you  will 
notice  that  the  two  sons  of  Abraham  are  two  covenants, 
and  the  bondmaid  Hagar  represents  an  Arabian  moun- 
tain, which  by  a  magical  change  becomes  the  same  as 
the  city  of  Jerusalem.  The  name  Abram  signifies 
the  "  Father  of  Elevation,"  which  is  the  astronomical 
distinction  of  the  planet  Saturn,  the  exaltation  of  which, 
with  its  devious  ways,  well  represents  the  alleged  his- 
tory of  its  prototype.  The  word  Chasdim,  translated 
Chaldees,  literally  means  light,  and  is  a  professional 
not  a  geographical  name,  and  probably  refers  to  the 
art  of  magic  and  the  work  of  astrologers ;  so  that  it 
is  more  than  probable  that  Abram  was  not  a  person, 
any  more  than  Chasdim  was  a  place.  There  are  many 
references  in  the  Scriptures  which  favor  this  interpre- 
tation, but  which  cannot  here  be  mentioned.     Even  in 


150  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  Lord^s  Prayer,  found  in  Jewish  rituals  long  before 
the  Christian  era,  there  are  evidences  that  it  was  first 
addressed  to  Saturn.  There  never  was  any  form  of 
religious  worship  which  did  not  contain  an  expression 
equivalent  to  Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven.  Even 
Jupiter  means  Our  Father  in  the  sky. 

The  name  of  Abram  has  many  variations,  and  there 
is  an  important  sense  in  which  he  may  be  called  "  the 
father  of  many  nations."  He  was  the  Esrael  of  the 
Chaldeans,  the  Israel  of  the  Phcenicians,  as  the  histor- 
ian Sanchoniathon  distinctly  alleges  that  their  name 
for  Saturn  was  Israel :  the  names  Abraham  and  Israel 
are  used  interchangeably  in  both  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  and  among  the  Hindoos,  the  Greeks,  the 
Persians,  and  other  nations  he  was  the  god  Satumus  of 
the  whole  pagan  world.  Even  upon  the  dials  of  our 
"grandfathers'  clocks,"  cherished  in  many  families  as 
heirlooms  in  our  day,  his  memory  is  kept  green  by  the 
figure  of  the  god  of  Time.  Scores  of  other  similitudes 
between  Saturn  and  Abraham  could  here  be  introduced 
did  space  permit.  Suffice  it  to  say,  Saturn  in  fable 
married  his  own  sister,  who  was  a  star ;  and  so  did 
Abraham,  and  the  name  of  his  wife  signifies  a  star. 
Both  had  many  sons,  but  each  had  a  favorite  son,  and 
Saturn  called  his  Jeoud,  which  implies  an  only  son, 
as  Abraham  so  regarded  Isaac.  A  learned  English 
scholar  has  suggested  that  the  name  "  Jeoud "  is  the 
real  origin  of  the  name  "  Jew,"  and  he  assigns  several 
philological  and  historical  reasons  for  his  theory.  It 
is  certain  in  the  minds  of  many  profound  and  inde- 


THE  KEYS  APPLIED.  151 

pendent  investigators  that  the  Jewish  tribes  originated 
in  Arabia,  and  were  originally  a  mere  religious  order, 
and  that  their  so-called  history  is  largely  fabulous,  and 
that  their  exodus  is  a  comparatively  modern  novel  with 
an  ancient  date,  as  has  been  shown. 

Let  us  now  take  the  best -remembered  incident  in  the 
life  of  Abraham,  the  attempted  murder  and  the  rescue 
of  his  son  Isaac,  and  see  what  will  come  of  applying 
the  symbolic  instead  of  the  literal  interpretation  to  it. 

Let  it  be  noted  that  this  is  not  an  original  story. 
The  ancient  Hindoos  have  one  like  it.  King  Haris- 
candra  had  no  son.  He  prayed  for  one,  and  promised 
that  if  one  should  be  born  to  him  he  would  sacrifice 
him  to  the  gods.  One  was  born,  and  he  named  him 
Rohita.  One  day  his  father  told  him  of  his  promise 
to  Varuna  to  offer  him  in  sacrifice.  The  son  bought 
a  substitute,  and  when  he  was  about  to  be  immolated 
he  was  marvellously  rescued.  Then  there  is  the  well- 
known  similar  story  written  by  the  Phoenician  San- 
choniathon  thirteen  hundred  years  before  our  era. 
Then  there  is  the  Grecian  story  of  Agamemnon,  to 
whom,  when  about  to  sacrifice  his  daughter,  a  stag 
was  furnished  by  a  goddess  as  a  substitute.  There 
is  another  Grecian  fable  in  which  a  maiden  was  about 
to  be  sacrificed,  and  as  the  priest  uplifted  his  knife  to 
shed  her  blood  the  victim  suddenly  disappeared,  and  a 
goat  of  uncommon  beauty  stood  in  her  place  as  a  sub- 
stitute. Another  story  runs  thus :  In  Sparta  the 
maiden  Helena  was  about  to  be  immolated  on  the 
altar  of  the  gods,  when  an  eagle  carried  off  the  knife 


152  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  the  priest  and  laid  it  upon  the  neck  of  a  heifer, 
which  was  sacrificed  in  her  stead.  Similar  stories 
might  be  produced  from  among  many  nations  in  the 
most  ancient  times,  long  before  the  Jews  picked  this  up 
in  Babylon  and  rewrote  it,  with  modifications,  so  as  to 
apply  it  to  their  mythical  progenitor ;  for  this  fable  of 
Abraham's  offering  was  not  written  until  after  their 
return  from  their  Babylonish  captivity — much  nearer 
our  own  time  than  is  generally  suspjpcted. 

Regarded  as  an  historic  account  of  a  real  transac- 
tion, this  story  of  the  attempted  sacrifice  of  a  beloved 
son  by  a  venerable  father  is  shocking  in  the  extreme, 
dishonoring  alike  to  God  and  to  Abraham.  A  good 
God  could  not  have  done  such  an  unnatural  and  cruel 
thing.  He  had  no  occasion  to  try  Abraham  to  find 
out  how  much  faith  he  had.  He  knew  that  already. 
Regarded  as  an  astrological  allegory,  it  is  ingenious 
and  contains  a  moral  lesson,  to  wit :  obedience  to  the 
voice  of  God  and  the  hope  of  deliverance  in  the  hour 
of  extreme  emergency.  The  defect  in  the  story  is, 
that  God  could  trifle  with  a  loving  child,  and  pretend 
to  require  him  to  break  one  of  his  own  commandments, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  and  subject  him  to  its  own  pen- 
alty, "  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his 
blood  be  shed."  It  would  not  have  availed  Abraham 
to  plead  that  God  told  him  to  murder  his  son,  any 
more  than  it  availed  the  Pocasset  crank  when  he 
pleaded  that  God  had  directed  him  to  murder  his 
little  daughter.  The  State  of  Massachusetts  sent  the 
semi-lunatic  to  a  safe  place  of  confinement.     This 


THE  KEYS  APPLIED.  153 

story  of  Abraham  and  Isaac  has  led  to  scores  and 
scores  of  murders  of  children  by  their  fathers,  just 
as  the  passage  in  the  Old  Testament,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  a  witch  to  live,"  has  been  pleaded  in  justification 
of  the  cool,  deliberate  murder  of  multitudes  of  men, 
women,  and  children  on  the  charge  of  witchcraft. 
The  literal  interpretation  of  what  is  called  infallible 
Scripture  has  been  the  most  bitter  curse  to  deluded, 
priest-ridden  humanity.  It  is  the  "  stock  in  trade " 
of  ignorant  and  selfish  ecclesiastics  to-day. 

Let  us  look  a  little  more  closely  at  this  Abraham- 
and-Isaac  myth.  Abraham  was  the  personification 
of  Saturn,  the  god  of  Time,  while  Isaac  was  the  per- 
sonification of  the  Sun.  Abraham  took  Isaac  up  to 
Hebron — which  means  union  or  alliance,  and  clearly 
indicates  a  union  of  the  ecliptic  and  equinoctial  line — 
the  very  point  at  which  the  Ram  of  the  vernal  equi- 
nox passed  by,  or,  as  might  be  poetically  said,  was 
caught  in  a  cloud  or  bush ;  so  that  the  whole  story 
was  written  long  ages  before  in  the  celestial  heavens, 
and  emblazoned  in  the  skies  at  the  return  of  each 
vernal  equinox.  Writers  on  astro-theology  point  out 
details  at  great  length  to  support  the  symbolic  inter- 
pretation, but  it  is  enough  for  our  purpose  to  merely 
give  the  keynote.  Let  the  fact  be  specially  noted  that 
the  names  of  the  patriarchs  have  an  astrological  mean- 
ing, and  that  the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob,  the  grandson 
of  Abraham,  who  became  the  heads  of  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel,  have  distinctly  astrological  characters, 
fully  indicated  in  Jacob's  dying  blessing  on  his  sons 


154  SKELETON  KEYS, 

(Gen.  49)  and  in  the  corresponding  "  Song  of  Moses  " 
(Deut.  33),  on  the  banner  carried  by  the  different 
tribes  in  tlieir  mythical  march  from  Egypt  to  Ca- 
naan ;  and  that  on  the  breastplate  of  the  officiating 
high  priest  the  jewels  correspond  to  the  celestial  signs 
of  the  solar  zodiac ;  and  although  Jacob  had  children 
by  several  different  women  and  was  a  first-class  Mor- 
mon, his  twelve  sons  are  made  to  correspond  with  the 
twelve  months  of  the  year  and  the  twelve  signs  of 
the  zodiac.  This  fact  is  admitted  by  the  orthodox 
author  of  The  Gospel  in  the  Stars.  His  daughters 
are  not  considered  worthy  of  notice,  as  that  would 
have  spoiled  the  riddle.  The  philology  and  ety- 
mology of  the  name  Jacob  has  suggestions  of  the 
serpent ;  and  from  his  history  he  must  have  been 
a  snaky  fellow  from  the  first  to  the  last.  He  was 
born  with  his  hand  upon  his  brother's  "heel,"  and 
he  managed  to  cheat  him  out  of  his  share  of  his 
mother's  affections,  and  lied  to  his  father,  and  con- 
spired with  his  mother  to  rob  Esau,  his  brother,  of  his 
"  blessing."  The  stories  of  Laban  and  Leah  and  Rachel 
all  conform  to  the  symbolic  rather  than  the  literal  hy- 
pothesis, as  well  as  Jacob's  vision  of  the  ladder,  and 
his  wrestling-match  with  the  angel,  when  he  openly  ob- 
tained the  astrological  name  of  the  children  of  Saturn 
— Israel.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  allegorical 
hypothesis  relieves  the  patriarchs  of  the  charge  of 
many  mean  things,  such  as  the  heartless  manner  in 
which  Abram  treated  Hagar  when  Sarah  got  jealous, 
and  the  manner  in  which  he  treated  Sarah  herself 


THE  KEYS  APPLIED.  155 

when  he  lied  to  the  king  through  a  selfish  cowardice 
and  gave  his  wife  over  to  the  lusts  of  the  monarch 
Abimelech,  who  was  (or  one  bearing  his  name)  deceived 
by  Isaac  in  regard  to  Rebekah  by  a  similar  trick  (Gen. 
26  : 1).  Lot,  the  nephew  of  Abraham,  was  guilty  of  a 
meaner  and  more  unmanly  act  when  he  himself  pro- 
posed to  give  over  his  two  virgin  daughters  to  the 
worse  than  beastly  lusts  of  a  howling  mob,  to  protect 
two  angels  who  were  guests  at  his  tent  (Gen.  19  : 1-1 1). 
But  theologians  will  never  willingly  admit  that 
the  Abraham  of  Genesis  was  a  myth.  They  well 
know  the  logical  conclusion.  They  would  have 
to  give  up  the  "  Abrahamic  covenant,"  which  is  the 
basis  of  sacerdotalism.  When  Professor  Driver,  of 
the  orthodox  University  of  Oxford,  recently  admitted 
only  by  implication  that  Abraham  may  have  had  no 
real  personal  existence,  and  claimed  that  such  hypoth- 
esis would  not  be  injurious  to  religion,  his  article  was 
rejected  and  suppressed  by  the  editor  of  an  orthodox 
paper  in  Philadelphia  as  dangerous.  But  to  assume 
that  all  the  principal  actors  of  Genesis  and  some  other 
books  were  impersonations,  not  persons,  would  not 
destroy  the  good  things  they  are  alleged  to  have  said 
and  done.  It  is  no  more  necessary  to  insist  upon  the 
real  personality  of  Abraham  than  to  insist  upon  the 
literal  existence  of  Faithful  and  Great-Heart  and 
other  impersonations  in  Pilgrim^s  Progress.  Nobody 
insists  that  the  characters  in  the  parables  accredited 
to  Jesus  must  be  taken  in  a  literal  sense.  And  yet  it 
may  be  admitted  that  the  fictions  of  Scripture  may 


156  SKELETON  KEYS. 

have  been  suggested  by  some  persons  and  facts,  just  as 
in  modern  novels  there  generally  is  some  person  who 
stands  for  the  original  of  the  story.  This  is  eminently 
so  in  the  novels  of  Dickens  and  D'Israeli.  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  difficult  to  doubt  that  the  principal  characters 
of  the  Old  Testament  are  mythical,  pure  and  simple, 
as  we  find  the  originals  in  the  older  scriptures  of  dif- 
ferent nations,  confessedly  founded  upon  the  solar  and 
other  forms  of  Nature-worship.  The  fact  is,  that  the 
only  rational  way  to  explain  the  marvellous  stories  of 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  is  by  the  well-known  methods 
of  ancient  symbolism. 

Let  us  now  merely  glance  at  some  other  Old-Testa- 
ment fables. 

Noah  and  his  Deluge  are  mainly  mythical,  as  this 
story  is  almost  a  literal  copy  of  the  Chaldean,  though 
found  substantially  in  the  writings  of  many  other 
nations.  It  readily  fits  the  allegorical  method  of 
interpretation  in  almost  every  particular.  The  Chal- 
dean account  as  written  by  Berosus,  and  found  recently 
by  the  late  George  Smith  of  the  British  Museum  on 
the  clay  tablets,  is  so  much  like  the  story  in  Genesis 
that  the  latter  must  have  been  copied  from  the  former ; 
and  the  slight  variations  in  the  two  narratives  are  no 
greater  than  might  have  been  expected  as  between 
Chaldea  and  Palestine.  The  Jews  obtained  it  from 
Babylon,  as  there  is  no  mention  made  of  this  miracle 
in  any  book  of  the  Bible  written  before  the  Captivity. 
The  books  of  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Chronicles,  Judges, 
Kings,  etc.  are  silent  on  this  subject.     Josephus  de- 


THE  KEYS  APPLIED.  157 

fended  the  Noachian  Deluge  on  the  sole  ground  that 
an  account  of  it  was  held  by  the  Chaldeans,  never 
pretending  that  the  Chaldean  account  was  taken  from 
the  Jewish  record. 

But  it  is  useless  to  dwell  on  the  story  of  a  univer- 
sal deluge  of  water.  It  is  in  the  light  of  modern 
science  physically  impossible  and  absurd ;  and  such 
men  as  Buckland,  Pye  Smith,  Hugh  Miller,  and 
Hitchcock,  with  many  other  distinguished  Christian 
scientists,  give  up  the  doctrine  of  a  universal  deluge 
while  claiming  a  partial  one.  And  here,  again,  the 
ancient  astronomy  comes  in  with  an  explanation  of 
partial  floods  of  waters  by  the  natural  results  of  the 
"  precession  of  the  equinoxes,"  in  which,  at  certain 
periods  during  the  change  of  the  polar  axis  of  the 
earth,  great  physical  convulsions  must  follow,  with 
wide  eruptions  of  water,  making  a  partial  overflow  and 
suggesting  the  idea  of  a  universal  deluge.  Four  such 
cataclysms  must  have  occurred  while  the  sun  was  mak- 
ing one  journey  through  the  twelve  zodiacal  constella- 
tions. Prof.  Huxley  has  recently  well  said :  "  But 
the  voice  of  archseology  and  historical  criticism  still 
has  to  be  heard,  and  it  gives  forth  no  uncertain  sound. 
The  marvellous  recovery  of  the  records  of  an  antiquity 
far  superior  to  any  that  can  be  ascribed  to  the  Penta- 
teuch, which  has  been  effected  by  the  decipherers  of 
cuneiform  characters,  has  put  us  in  possession  of  a 
series  once  more,  not  of  speculations,  but  of  facts, 
which  has  a  most  remarkable  bearing  upon  the  ques- 
tion  of  the  trustworthiness  of  the   narrative   of  th^ 


158  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Flood.  It  is  established  that  for  centuries  before  the 
asserted  migration  of  Terah  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees 
(which,  according  to  the  orthodox  interpreters  of  the 
Pentateuch,  took  place  after  the  year  2000  B.  c.)  Low- 
er Mesopotamia  was  the  seat  of  a  civilization  in  which 
art  and  science  and  literature  had  attained  a  devel- 
opment formerly  unsuspected,  or,  if  there  were  faint 
reports  of  it,  treated  as  fabulous.  And  it  is  also  no 
matter  of  speculation,  but  a  fact,  that  the  libraries  of 
this  people  contain  versions  of  a  long  epic  poem,  one 
of  the  twelve  books  of  which  tells  the  story  of  a  del- 
uge which  in  a  number  of  its  leading  features  corre- 
sponds to  the  story  attributed  to  Berosus,  no  less  than 
with  the  story  given  in  Genesis,  with  curious  ex- 
actnesss. 

"  Looking  at  the  convergence  of  all  these  lines  of 
evidence  leads  to  the  one  conclusion — that  the  story  of 
the  Flood  in  Genesis  is  merely  a  version  of  one  of  the 
oldest  pieces  of  purely  fictitious  literature  extant ;  that 
whether  this  is  or  is  not  its  origin,  the  events  asserted 
in  it  to  have  taken  place  assuredly  never  did  take  place; 
further,  that  in  point  of  fact  the  story  in  the  plain  and 
logically  necessary  sense  of  its  words  has  long  since 
been  given  up  by  orthodox  and  conservative  com- 
mentators of  the  Established  Church." 

The  only  rational  interpretation  of  the  extraordi- 
nary stories  of  the  Pentateuch  and  other  scriptures  is 
to  regard  them  as  mythical  and  allegorical,  borrowed 
from  the  astrological  systems  of  more  ancient  peoples. 
It  is  very  diflScult  to  present  within  the  limits  here 


THE  KEYS  APPLIED.  159 

allowed  what  has  grown  into  ponderous  volumes  in 
elucidating  the  matter  in  hand. 

The  story  of  Jonah  and  the  Fish,  taken  as  a  literal 
story,  is  incredible,  though  the  notorious  Brooklyn 
preacher  thinks  that  it  must  be  literally  true,  as  that 
God  might  have  so  diluted  the  gastric  juice  in  the 
stomach  of  the  fish  as  to  make  Jonah  quite  indigesti- 
ble !  This  whole  story  is  found  in  earlier  pagan  writ- 
ings, and  is  fully  explained  by  the  astronomical  phe- 
nomena. The  earth  is  a  huge  fish  in  the  ancient 
mythology,  and  on  December  the  21st  the  sun  (Jonah, 
the  type)  sinks  into  its  dark  belly,  and  after  three  days 
— ^to  wit,  December  25th — ^it  comes  forth.  The  Sun- 
god  is  on  dry  land  again. 

There  is  a  Hindoo  fable  much  like  this.  In  Grecian 
fable  Hercules  was  swallowed  by  a  whale  at  Joppa, 
and  is  said  to  have  lain  three  days  in  his  entrails. 
The  Sun  was  called  Jona,  as  can  be  shown  from  many 
authorities.  The  nursery-tale  of  "  Little  Ked  Riding- 
Hood  "  was  also  a  sun-myth,  mutilated  in  the  Eng- 
lish story,  showing  how  the  Sun  was  devoured  by  the 
Black  Wolf  (Night),  and  came  out  unhurt.  Scores 
of  similar  sun-myths  could  be  narrated. 

But  there  are  geographical  inaccuracies  which  show 
its  mythical  character.  Instead  of  Nineveh  being  "  three 
days'  journey  "  from  the  coast  where  Jonah  was  vomited 
out,  it  is  distant  some  four  hundred  miles  of  hill  and 
plain,  and  the  size  of  the  city  was  not  twenty  by  twelve 
miles,  but  more  nearly  eight  by  three  miles.  Moreover, 
the  city  showed  no  signs  of  decay  till  about  two  hundred 


160  SKELETON  KEYS. 

and  fifty  years  after  the  alleged  warning  of  Jonah.  It 
is  truly  astounding  that  intelligent  men  can  be  so  blind. 
It  was  recently  admitted  by  high  Christian  authority 
that  there  is  not  a  particle  of  proof  for  this  story  ex- 
cept that  Jesus  had  referred  to  Jonah  as  being  "  three 
days  and  nights  in  the  whale's  belly."  If  Jesus  did 
say  this,  he  used  it  as  an  illustration.  He  probably 
stated  a  current  tradition,  if  he  said  it  at  all. 

Let  us  now  try  our  key  in  the  closet-door  of  the 
Samson  story. 

According  to  the  Bible  account,  Samson  performed 
twelve  principal  exploits  ;  and  if  you  will  turn  to  any 
good  dictionary  of  mythology  you  will  find  a  wonder- 
ful likeness  to  the  twelve  labors  of  Hercules  in  the 
Greek  myth  of  the  Sun.  Time  can  be  taken  to  ex- 
amine only  one — the  cutting  off  of  Samson's  hair 
while  reposing  in  the  lap  of  Delilah,  and  the  conse- 
quent loss  of  his  strength.  Professor  Goldhizer  says : 
"  Long  locks  of  hair  and  a  long  beard  are  mythologi- 
cal attributes  of  the  sun."  ..."  When  the  power- 
ful summer's  sun  is  succeeded  by  the  weak  rays  of  the 
winter's  sun,  its  strength  departs."  But  as  the  sun 
becomes  ascendant  again  he  renews  his  strength,  just 
as  Samson's  strength  returned  when  his  hair  grew  out 
again.  The  seven  locks  represent  the  seven  planetary 
worlds.  The  constellation  Virgo  represents  Samson's 
wife ;  and  Delilah,  in  whose  lap  he  dallied  and  lost  his 
strength,  represents  the  months  of  autumn,  before  the 
winter  came  to  hand  him  over  to  the  Philistines,  the 
dreary  time  of  the  winter  months.    The  story  of  Sam- 


THE  KEYS  APPLIED.  161 

son  is  found  in  the  sun-myths  of  all  the  Sun-worship- 
ping nations,  and  the  story  of  Hercules  was  known  in 
an  island  colony  of  the  Phoenicians  five  hundred  years 
before  it  was  known  in  Greece ;  and  the  story  is  almost 
as  old  as  humanity  itself.  The  very  name  Samson  (or 
Samp-shon)  in  some  languages  means  the  sun;  and 
there  is  not  an  exploit  recorded  of  him  that  does  not 
yield  to  the  solar  interpretation ;  and  when  modern 
ministers  undertake  to  explain  how  Samson  caught 
three  hundred  foxes  and  set  fire  to  their  tails,  they 
never  think  to  mention  (if  they  happen  to  know  it) 
that  in  the  ancient  festival  of  Ceres  a  fox-hunt  was 
enacted  in  the  theatres  of  Rome  in  which  burning 
torches  were  bound  to  the  foxes'  tails.  We  have  an 
explanation  of  this  from  Prof.  Steinthal :  "  This  was  a 
symbolical  reminder  of  the  damage  done  to  the  fields 
by  mildew,  called  the  '  red  fox,'  in  the  last  of  April. 
It  was  at  the  time  of  the  Dog  Star  at  which  the  mil- 
dew was  most  to  be  feared ;  and  if  at  that  time  great 
solar  heat  followed  too  close  upon  the  hoar-frost  or  dew 
of  the  cold  nights,  the  mischief  raged  like  a  burning 
fox  through  the  corn-fields.  Like  the  lion,  the  fox  is 
an  animal  that  indicates  the  solar  heat,  being  well 
suited  both  by  its  color  and  long-haired  tail."  Bou- 
chart  gives  a  similar  explanation  and  application,  and 
so  do  many  other  writers.  It  remains  for  ministers 
of  this  nineteenth  century  to  dole  out  the  ancient 
fables  of  the  past  as  literal  history  to  the  grown-up 
children  of  to-day.  The  story  of  Samson  in  all  its 
details  yields  to  the  key  of  ancient  symbolism.  Why 
11 


162  SKELETON  KEYS. 

not  admit  the  fact  that  this  is  a  solar  myth,  and  thus 
get  clear  of  all  the  blasphemy  and  absurdities  of  a  lit- 
eral interpretation? 

The  incredibly  absurd  story  of  Joshua's  command- 
ing the  sun  to  stand  still  for  several  hours  has  a 
rational  explanation,  regarded  as  a  myth,  well  known 
to  initiates  to  set  forth  the  correction  of  the  calendar, 
so  as  to  make  different  periods  correspond,  as  one  stops 
a  clock  to  make  it  agree  with  the  ringing  of  the  stand- 
ard time  by  the  town  bell.  There  are  scores  of  paral- 
lels in  ancient  history. 

Regard  Solomon  as  a  sun-myth,  and  you  have  no 
difficulty  about  the  size  of  his  family.  The  seven 
hundred  wives  and  the  three  hundred  concubines 
represented  so  many  stars.  Even  the  narratives  of 
David's  exploits  with  the  five  kings,  his  "  unpleasant- 
ness "  with  Saul,  and  his  dalliance  and  intrigue  with 
Bathsheba  yield  to  the  astro-mythological  key. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  story  of  the  two  she-bears  that 
ate  up  the  forty-two  children  who  called  shorn  Elisha 
"  bald-head."  The  prophet  was  the  Sun,  denuded  of 
his  curls  at  a  certain  astronomical  period;  the  two 
bears  were  the  constellations  Ursa  Major  and  Ursa 
Minor,  the  great  bear  and  the  little  bear ;  and  the 
forty-two  children  were  a  group  of  stars  covered  by 
the  two  bears,  so  that,  figuratively,  it  might  be  said 
they  were  "  eaten  up."  And  yet  the  late  Dr.  Nehe- 
miah  A^dams  of  Boston  once  exclaimed  :  "  I  believe  that 
the  forty-two  children  who  made  fun  of  the  bald  head 
of  the  prophet  of  God  are  now  in  hell."     He  once 


THE  KEYS  APPLIED.  163 

wrote  an  admirable  book  entitled  Agnes  ;  or,  The  Little 
Key,  but  he  failed  to  find  the  skeleton  key  to  unlock 
the  solar  fable  of  the  prophet,  the  saucy  little  children, 
and  the  voracious  bears. 

Within  the  last  few  months  Philadelphia  has  been 
the  scene  of  a  most  imposing  ecclesiastical  ceremony — 
the  investiture  of  the  Roman  Catholic  archbishop  with 
the  pallium,  a  narrow  baud  or  sash  made  from  wool 
grown  upon  white  lambs  that  had  been  blessed  by  the 
Pope  on  St.  Agnes'  Day.  We  heard  the  eloquent  ser- 
mon of  the  archbishop  of  New  York,  and  he  com- 
menced his  plausible  discourse  by  tracing  the  pallium 
to  the  mantle  that  fell  from  Elijah  upon  Elisha,  the 
summer  and  winter  sun,  and  was  worn  by  him'  after 
the  translation  of  Elijah.  But  we  try  our  skeleton 
key,  and  find  that  Elijah  represented  the  ascending 
summer  sun,  and  Elisha  the  sun  of  autumn ;  and 
when  Elijah  gained  the  greatest  height,  of  course  his 
lessened  rays,  well  called  a  "  mantle,"  fell  upon  the 
bald-headed  man  representing  the  autumn.  This  is 
the  whole  story  in  plain  language,  and  this  is  the  kind 
of  stuff  that  ecclesiastical  man-millinery  is  made  of. 
The  crowd  stared  with  admiration  and  wonder,  just  as 
children  are  amused  with  their  doll-babies,  who  are 
"  sick  "  or  "  well,"  "  naughty  "  or  "  good,"  according 
to  the  whims  of  the  "  little  women  "  who  dress  and 
nurse  them.  There  is  a  doll-baby  period  in  every 
child's  history,  and  it  may  be  necessary  to  have  a 
doll-baby  period  in  religion ;  but  it  does  seem  to  some 
of  us  that  it  is  about  time  for  full-grown  women  and 


164  SKELETON  KEYS. 

men  to  doff  their  bibs  and  aprons,  lay  aside  their  doll- 
babies  and  other  ecclesiastical  toys,  and  act  as  becomes 
men  and  women  of  full  growth.  Even  Paul  said, 
"  When  I  was  a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child,  I  under- 
stood as  a  child ;  but  when  I  became  a  man,  I  put  away 
childish  things."  It  has  been  well  said  by  a  judicious 
writer  :  "  Intelligent  readers,  except  revelationists,  well 
know  that  the  Hebrew  fables  are  myths  which  teem 
with  history  of  a  kind,  if  we  can  only  separate  the 
wheat  from  the  chaff.  So  also  is  the  story  of  the 
Creation  in  Genesis.  We  have  a  very  valuable  myth, 
though  a  purely  phallic  tale,  such  as  East  Indians — 
and  perhaps  they  only — can  thoroughly  comprehend. 
**  We  would  not  seek  to  detract  from  the  great  value 
of  myths,  for,  besides  their  own  intrinsic  worth,  these 
stories  also  exhibit  to  us  many  phases  of  ancient  life 
and  thought.  Myths  may  be  regarded  as  history  which 
we  have  not  yet  been  able  to  read.  We  should  not  dis- 
card as  untrue  or  unhistorical  any  tale,  biblical  or 
other,  as  implying  that  it  is  false  and  unworthy  of 
consideration.  On  the  contrary,  we  cannot  too  ear- 
nestly and  patiently  ponder  over  every  ancient  tale, 
legend,  or  myth,  as  they  all  have  some  foundation  and 
instructive  lesson.  Whenever  an  important  myth  has 
existed  an  important  fact  has  doubtless  been  its  basis." 


CHAPTER  yil. 

THE  FABLE  OF  THE  FALL. 

"  And  calleth  those  things  which  be  not  as  though  they  were." 
— EoM.  4 :  17. 

The  prevailing  belief  of  Christendom  to-day  is, 
that  about  six  thousand  years  ago,  somewhere  in  Asia, 
the  Supreme  Creator  took  common  clay  and  moulded 
it  into  the  form  of  a  man,  somewhat  as  a  sculptor 
forms  the  model  from  which  the  marble  statue  is  to 
be  constructed,  and  when  shaped  to  his  liking  he 
breathed  into  the  clay  model  the  breath  of  life,  and 
it  became  a  living  soul.  This  miraculous  work  is 
believed  to  have  been  begun  and  completed  on  a  par- 
ticular day ;  so  that  in  the  morning  the  earth  con- 
tained not  a  man,  but  in  the  afternoon  the  full-grown, 
bearded  man  stood  up  in  his  majesty  and  assumed 
supremacy  over  all  living  things.  This  godlike  man 
finding  himself  lonely,  the  Creator  put  him  to  sleep, 
and  opened  his  side  and  took  therefrom  a  rib,  out  of 
which  he  formed  a  woman,  who  was  to  be  a  compan- 
ion, a  wife,  to  the  man ;  and  from  this  particular 
couple  have  come,  by  ordinary  generation,  all  the 
people  dwelling  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  They 
are  said  to  have  been  perfect,  but,  unfortunately  for 

165 


166  SKELETON  KEYS. 

their  progeny,  this  perfection  did  not  long  continue. 
Before  they  were  blest  with  offspring  they  lost  their 
Creator's  favor  by  eating  fruit  from  a  forbidden  tree, 
and  became  fearfully  demoralized,  and,  instead  of  be- 
getting children  endowed  with  their  own  angelic  qual- 
ities, they  became  the  unhappy  parents  of  a  race  of 
moral  monsters,  of  which  we  are  all  degraded  and 
degenerate  descendants. 

The  sacerdotal  story  of  the  fall  of  Adam  and  Eve 
is  based  upon  the  assumption  that  it  is  to  be  received 
as  liteml  history,  revealed  by  the  Creator  and  written 
down  in  a  book  by  a  man  specially  chosen  and  plena- 
rily  inspired ;  so  that  there  can  be  no  error  or  mistake 
in  the  record.  To  question  this  narrative  in  its  literal 
sense  is  most  impious,  and  subjects  the  doubter  to  the 
charge  of  favoring  infidelity. 

While  persons  "professing  and  calling  themselves 
Christians"  cannot  agree  regarding  many  things 
deemed  by  them  matters  of  vital  importance,  the  fall 
of  man  is  a  matter  in  which  they  are  fully  agreed.  The 
great  basic  dogma  which  underlies  all  motlern  systems 
of  theology,  Romish  and  Protestant,  is  the  utter  deprav- 
ity of  the  human  race  through  the  fall  of  Adam, 
dooming  a  large  majority  of  the  human  family  to 
eternal  punishment. 

How  evil  came  into  the  world  has  been  the  most 
perplexing  problem  of  the  ages.  Before  it  the  most 
gigantic  minds  have  been  covered  with  confusion  and 
paralyzed  with  doubt.  Why  sin  and  suffering  should 
have  been  permitted,  not  to  say  created,  has  never  been 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  167 

made  clear  to  the  human  reason  by  any  system  of 
theology;  Romish  or  Protestant.  A  few  years  ago  Dr. 
Edward  Beecher  published  a  book  entitled  The  Con- 
flict of  Ages.  When  reviewed  by  Dr.  Charles  Hodge 
in  the  Princeton  Review  he  entitled  his  paper  "  Beecher's 
Conflict;"  but  it  was  rightly  called  The  Conflict  of 
Ages :  it  was  not  "  Beecher's  Conflict/'  and  the  expla- 
nation given  by  theology  only  involves  the  question 
in  greater  doubt  and  difficulty. 

From  the  first  dawning  of  human  reason,  even  in 
the  mind  of  inquisitive  childhood,  questions  like  these 
have  been  revolved,  if  not  formulated  :  Did  not  God 
know,  Avhen  he  made  Adam  and  Eve,  that  they  would 
fall  ?  Why,  then,  did  he  create  them  ?  Why  did  he 
create  a  subtle  serpent  to  tempt  them  ?  Why  did  he 
create  a  tree  the  fruit  of  which  was  forbidden  ?  Why 
did  he  make  the  possible  everlasting  ruin  of  innumer- 
able unborn  mortals  depend  on  such  a  trivial  act  as 
the  eating  of  a  certain  apple?  Why  did  he  not  de- 
stroy Adam  and  Eve  after  their  first  act  of  disobedi- 
ence, and  thus  prevent  them  from  propagating  a  faith- 
less progeny,  which  should  increase  in  geometrical 
progression  until  the  number  should  be  so  great  as 
to  exhaust  calculation  with  weariness,  stagger  reason 
itself,  and  transcend  even  the  powers  of  the  loftiest 
imagination  to  conceive?  Why  are  the  teeming  mil- 
lions of  the  children  of  Adam  held  virtually  respon- 
sible for  this  single  trivial  act  of  disobedience  by  an 
unknown  remote  ancestor  myriads  of  ages  ago  ?  How 
could  all  men  sin  in  him  and  fall  with  him  in  the  first 


168  SKELETON  KEYS. 

transgression?    How  could  the  guilt  of  Adam's  sin 
be  imputed  to  his  children? 

The  circumstances  connected  with  the  degradation 
of  man  are  so  extraordinary  that  it  is  not  unreason- 
able to  inquire  whether  the  narrative  of  the  fall  is 
a  matter  of  supernatural  revelation  based  upon  an 
historic  occurrence,  or  whether  it  is  purely  mythical, 
portraying  the  conceptions  of  the  human  mind  as  to 
the  origin  of  evil  at  some  remote  period  of  the  world's 
childhood.  For  the  support  of  the  dogma  of  total 
depravity  through  the  fall  of  Adam  theologians  rely 
primarily  upon  the  account  in  the  book  of  Genesis. 
It  is  a  notable  fact  that  Adam  and  Eve  are  not  his- 
torically recognized  in  any  other  portion  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  their  very  existence  was  totally  ignored 
by  the  Teacher  of  Nazareth,  if  the  Gospels  said  to  con- 
tain the  only  report  of  his  teachings  are  to  be  credited. 
Nobody  pretends  that  Moses,  the  doubtful  author  of 
the  Pentateuch,  wrote  from  personal  knowledge;  but 
it  is  claimed  that  he  wrote  under  inspiration  of  God, 
though  there  is  not  a  single  intimation  in  Genesis  or 
any  other  book  that  he  was  so  inspired,  or  that  God 
had  anything  more  to  do  with  his  writings  than  he 
had  with  the  writings  of  Homer,  Herodotus,  or  John 
Milton.  But  the  assumption  that  the  dogma  of  the 
fall  through  the  sin  of  Adam  was  first  revealed  to 
Moses — at  most  not  more  then  eight  or  nine  hun- 
dred years  before  the  Christian  era — is  plainly  explo- 
ded by  the  fact  that  this  story  existed  among  many 
nations  centuries  and  centuries   before   Moses  is  said 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  169 

to  have  been  born  or  the  writing  called  Genesis 
existed. 

It  is  not  within  the  lines  of  our  general  purpose  to 
here  give  in  detail  the  numerous  legends — substan- 
tially the  same,  though  diflFering  in  particulars — regard- 
ing the  introduction  of  sin  into  this  world,  found  in  the 
writings  of  Hindoos,  Persians,  Etruscans,  Phoenicians, 
Babylonians,  Chaldeans,  Egyptians,  Thibetans,  and 
others.  Any  man  who  would  now  dare  to  deny 
this  statement  regarding  the  prevalence  of  the  story 
of  the  fall  centuries  before  the  writing  of  Genesis 
existed  would  justly  subject  himself  to  the  charge  of 
ignorance  or  dishonesty. 

Dr.  Inman  states  that  Adam  is  the  Phallus  and  Eve 
the  Yoni — in  other  words,  that  Adam  and  Eve  signify 
the  same  idea  as  Abraham  and  Sara,  Jacob  and  Leah, 
man  and  woman ;  thus  embodying  in  the  Hebrew  the 
Hindoo  notion  that  all  things  sprang  from  Mahadeva 
and  his  Sacti,  my  lady  Sara.  This  deduction  enables 
us  at  once  to  recognize,  as  did  the  early  Christians, 
the  mythical  character  of  the  account  of  the  fall ;  and 
we  must  conclude  that  the  story  means  that  the  male 
and  female  lived  happily  together  so  long  as  each  was 
without  passion  for  the  other,  but  that  when  a  union 
took  place  between  them  the  woman  suffered  all  the 
miseries  inseparable  from  pregnancy,  and  the  man  had 
to  toil  for  a  family,  whereas  he  had  previously  only 
thought  of  himself.  The  serpent  is  the  emblem  of 
"desire,"  indicated  by  the  man  and  recognized  by 
the  woman.     "There  is  a  striking  resemblance  be- 


170  SKELETON  KEYS. 

tween  the  Hindoo  and  Hebrew  myths.  The  first 
tells  us  that  Mahadeva  was  the  primary  Being,  and 
from  him  arose  the  'Sacti.'  The  second  makes 
Adam  the  original,  and  Eve  the  product  of  his  right 
side — an  idea  which  is  readily  recognizable  in  the  word 
Benjamin.  After  the  creation,  the  Egyptian,  Vedic, 
and  Jewish  stories  all  place  the  woman  beside  a  citron 
or  pomegranate  tree,  or  one  bearing  both  fruits ;  near 
this  is  a  cobra  or  asp,  the  emblem  of  male  desire, 
because  these  serpents  can  inflate  or  erect  themselves 
at  will." 

General  Forlong  thus  discourses  upon  this  subject : 
"  Most  cosmogonies  relate  a  phallic  tale  of  two  in- 
dividuals Adam  and  Eve,  meeting  in  a  garden  of 
delight  (Gan-Eden),  and  then  being  seduced  by  a  ser- 
pent Ar  (Ar-i-man),  Hoa,  Op,  or  Orus,  to  perform  the 
generative  act,  which  it  is  taught  led  to  sin  and  trouble, 
and  this  long  before  we  hear  of  a  spiritual  god  or  of 
solar  deities.  These  cosmogonies  narrate  a  contest  be- 
tween man  and  Nature,  in  which  the  former  '  fell,'  and 
must  ever  fall,  for  the  laws  of  Sol  and  his  seasons  none 
can  resist."  .  .  .  "The  Jews  learned  most  of  their  faith 
and  fables  from  the  great  peoples  of  the  East ;  especially 
did  they  get  the  two  cosmogonies,  and  that  solar  fable, 
mixed  with  truth,  of  a  serpent  tempting  a  woman  with 
the  fruit  of  a  tree,  of  course  in  the  fading  or  autumnal 
equinox,  when  only  fruit  exists  and  all  creation  tries 
to  save  itself  by  shielding  all  the  stores  of  nature  from 
the  fierce  onslaughts  of  angry  Typhon  when  entering 
on  his  dreary  winter.    The  Gan-Eden  fable  was  clearly 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  171 

an  attempt  by  Zoroastrians  to  explain  to  outsiders  the 
difficult  philosophical  problem  of  the  origin  of  man 
and  of  good  and  evil.  Mithras,  they  said — and  the 
Jews  followed  suit — is  the  good  God,  the  incarnation 
of  God,  who  dwells  in  the  beauteous  orb  of  day ;  to 
which  Christian  Jews  added  that  he  was  born  of  a 
virgin  in  a  cave  which  he  illuminated." 

"  The  *  tree  of  life '  mentioned  in  Gen.  3  :  22  cer- 
tainly appears,"  says  Mr.  Smith  {Chal.  Acct,  p.  88), 
"  to  correspond  to  the  sacred  grove  of  Anu,  which  a 
later  fragment  of  the  creation-tablets  states  was  guarded 
by  a  sword  turning  to  all  the  four  points  of  the  com- 
pass ;  and  there  too  we  have  allusions  to  *  a  thirst  for 
knowledge '  having  been  the  cause  of  man's  fall ;  the 
gods  curse  the  dragon  and  Adam  for  the  transgression. 
This  Adam  was  one  of  the  Zalmat-qaqadi,  or  dark 
men,  created  by  Hea  or  Nin-Si-ku,  a  name  pointing 
to  Hea  being  a  Nin  or  Creator,  while  Adam  is  called 
Adami  or  Admi,  the  present  Eastern  term  for  man  and 
the  lingam,  and  no  proper  name."  The  impression 
that  I  get  from  the  legends  of  Izdubar,  or  the  Flood, 
or  even  the  creation-tablets,  is  simply  that  these  were 
religious  revivals.  Nearly  every  illustration  of  Mr. 
Smith's  last  volume  shows  the  serpent  as  an  evil  in- 
fluence. Now,  if  I  am  right — and  all  I  have  read 
elsewhere  tends  to  the  same  conclusion — then  all  the 
tales  as  to  a  temptation  by  a  serpent,  a  fall,  are  phallo-* 
pythic  transmutations  of  faith,  and  have  no  more  con- 
nection with  the  first  creation  of  man  upon  earth  than 
have  the  flood,  the  ark,  or  mountain-worship  of  Jews 


172  SKELETON  KEYS. 

in  the  desert,  or  the  destruction  of  Pytho  by  Apollo 
in  the  early  days  of  Delphi,  etc. 

"  The  tree  and  serpent,"  says  Fergusson,  "  are  sym- 
bolized in  every  religious  system  which  the  world  has 
known,  not  excepting  the  Hebrew  and  Christian.  The 
two  together  are  typical  of  the  reproductive  powers  of 
vegetable  and  animal  life.  It  is  uncertain  whether  the 
Jewish  tree  of  life  was  borrowed  from  the  Egyptians 
or  Chaldeans ;  but  the  meaning  was  in  both  cases  the 
same,  and  we  know  that  the  Assyrian  tree  was  a  life- 
giving  divinity.  And  Moses,  or  the  writer  of  Genesis, 
has  represented  very  much  the  same  in  his  coiled  ser- 
pent and  love-apples,  or  citrons,  of  the  tree  of  life. 

"  The  writer  of  Genesis  probably  drew  his  idea  of 
the  two  trees,  that  of  life  and  that  of  knowledge,  from 
Egyptian  and  Zoroastrian  story ;  for  criticism  now  as- 
signs a  comparatively  late  date  to  the  writing  of  the 
first  Pentateuchal  book.  After  Genesis  no  further 
notice  is  taken  in  the  Bible  of  the  tree  of  knowledge. 
But  that  of  life,  or  the  tree  which  gives  life,  seems 
several  times  alluded  to,  especially  in  Rev.  2  :  7.  The 
lingam  or  pillar  is  the  Eastern  name  for  the  tree  which 
gives  life.  But  when  this  tree  became  covered  with 
the  inscriptions  of  all  the  past  ages,  as  in  Egypt,  then 
Toth,  the  Pillar,  came  to  be  called  the  tree  of  know- 
ledge." 

•  But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  Christian  theo- 
logians of  the  present  day  hold  the  historical  and  lit- 
eral truth  of  the  legend  of  the  fall  of  Adam.  In  sev- 
eral of  the  public  libraries   of  Philadelphia   may  be 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  173 

found  a  book  entitled  Beginnings  of  Histmy,  written 
by  a  learned  professor  of  Archaeology  at  the  National 
Library  of  France — Professor  Fran§ois  Lenormant. 
It  was  republished  by  Scribner,  New  York,  in  1886, 
with  an  introduction  by  Francis  Brown,  associate  pro- 
fessor of  Biblical  Philology  in  the  Presbyterian  Union 
Theological  Seminary  of  New  York.  It  is  written 
from  a  Christian  standpoint,  and  the  writer  is  a  firm 
defender  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
and  can  never  be  suspected  of  having  any  sympathy 
with  modern  rationalism.  He  not  only  admits  that 
the  Edenic  story  of  the  introduction  of  sin,  found  in 
Genesis,  is  a  compilation  made  up  from  the  Shemitic 
traditions  of  Babylonians,  Phoenicians,  and  other 
pagan  peoples,  but  he  has  covered  page  after  page 
with  proofs  of  this  fact  by  learned  and  accurate  quo- 
tations from  their  numerous  legends.  He  puts  in 
the  common  plea  of  lawyers,  known  as  confession  and 
avoidance,  and  takes  the  ground  that  "  the  writer  of 
the  Hebrew  Genesis  took  these  fables  from  floating 
tradition  as  he  found  them,  and  cleansed  them  of  their 
impurities,  altered  their  polytheistic  tendencies,  made 
them  monotheistic,  and  otherwise  so  transformed  them 
as  to  make  them  fit  vehicles  of  spiritual  instruction  by 
the  Divine  Spirit  which  inspired  him." 

This  is  an  ingenious  device,  but  it  will  hardly  sat- 
isfy sound  thinkers.  The  question  is,  whether  the 
story  of  Adam  is  historical  truth  or  pagan  fiction. 
The  highest  scholarship  pronounces  it  fiction,  while 
certain  orthodox  writers  admit  the  fiict  "that  God 


174  SKELETON  KEYS. 

used  prevailing  but  unreal  fancies  to  teach  import- 
ant truths." 

The  document  in  which  the  story  of  the  fall  is  found 
is  a  confused,  inconsistent,  and  absurd  compilation  by 
at  least  two  diiferent  writers,  representing  each  a  dif- 
ferent God,  Jehovah  and  Elohim,  the  writers  contra- 
dicting each  other  in  many  particulars ;  and  this  fact 
is  admitted  by  candid  Christian  writers,  and  by  none 
more  frankly  than  the  late  Dean  Stanley  of  the  Eng- 
lish Establishment.  The  first  account  of  creation  ends 
at  the  third  verse  of  Gen.  2,  and  the  second  account 
begins  with  the  fourth  verse  and  closes  with  the  end  of 
that  chapter.  In  the  first  account  the  man  and  woman 
are  created  together  on  the  sixth  and  last  day  of  crea- 
tion (Gen.  1  :  28).  In  the  second  account  the  beasts 
and  birds  are  created  after  the  creation  of  the  man  and 
before  the  creation  of  the  woman ;  and  it  was  not  until 
after  Adam  had  examined  and  named  all  the  beasts 
of  the  fields,  and  had  failed  to  find  among  the  apes, 
chimpanzees,  and  ourangs  a  suitable  companion  for 
himself,  that  Eve  was  made  from  one  of  Adam's  ribs, 
taken  from  his  primeval  anatomy  while  under  the  in- 
fluence of  a  divine  anaesthetic  (Gen.  2  : 7,  8,  15,  22). 
In  the  first  account  man  was  made  on  the  last  day, 
and  woman  was  made  at  the  same  time ;  in  the  second 
account  man  was  made  after  the  plants  and  herbs,  but 
before  fruit  trees,  beasts,  and  birds.  So  it  would  seem 
that,  inasmuch  as  woman  was  made  after  all  things, 
she  was  an  afterthought,  a  sort  of  necessary  evil  for 
the  solace  and  comfort  of  man.     These  contradictions 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  175 

run  through  the  whole  of  the  first  and  second  chapters 
of  Genesis,  and  plainly  show  that  these  narratives  were 
compiled  by  two  different  persons  from  vague  traditions 
or  from  different  written  documents.  Had  the  Creator 
undertaken  to  write  or  dictate  an  account  of  his  own 
work,  he  certainly  would  not  have  contradicted  him- 
self six  times  within  the  limit  of  a  few  lines. 

The  credibility  of  the  document  in  which  is  found 
the  account  of  the  fall  is  further  impaired  by  the  fact 
that  it  contains  statements  openly  at  variance  with  the 
demonstrations  of  science.  It  teaches  not  only  that 
the  world  was  made  in  six  days  of  twenty-four  hours 
each,  but  that  the  whole  planetary  system  was  made 
in  a  single  day.  "  He  made  the  stars  also."  The  dis- 
coveries of  modern  science  have  lately  driven  our  sa- 
cerdotalists  to  a  new  and  absurd  interpretation  of  the 
story  of  creation  by  alleging  that  the  six  days  spoken 
of  were  not  periods  of  twenty-four  hours  each,  but  six 
indefinite  periods  of  very  long  duration.  But  it  would 
be  easy  to  furnish  numerous  admissions  of  orthodox 
scholars  that  the  six  days  of  the  creative  week  were 
intended  by  the  writers  to  describe  ordinary  days,  of 
twenty-four  hours  each,  and  not  indefinite  periods. 
Any  other  interpretation  Professor  Hitchcock  has 
pronounced  "  forced  and  unnatural,  and  therefore  not 
to  be  adopted  without  a  very  urgent  necessity."  The 
venerable  Moses  Stuart,  long  professor  of  Biblical  Lit- 
erature in  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  says  : 
"  When  the  sacred  writer  in  Gen.  1  says  the  first  day, 
the  second  day,  etc.,  there  can  be  no  possible  doubt — 


176  SKELETON  KEYS. 

none,  I  mean,  for  a  philologist,  let  a  geologist  think  as 
he  may — that  a  definite  day  of  the  \veek  is  meant. 
What  puts  this  beyond  all  question,"  the  learned 
theologian  adds,  "  is  that  the  writer  says  specifically 
'  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  first  day,'  '  the 
second  day,'  etc.  Now,  is  an  evening  and  a  morning 
a  period  of  some  thousands  of  years  ?  ...  If  Moses 
has  given  us  an  eri-oneous  account  of  the  creation,  so 
be  it.  Let  it  come  out  and  let  us  have  the  whole 
truth."  The  fact  is,  that  the  indefinite-period  hypoth- 
esis does  not,  after  all  the  quirks  and  special  pleadings, 
overcome  the  difficulty.  The  question  arises,  Why 
six  indefinite  periods?  One  indefinite  period  is  as 
long  as  six  or  sixty.  There  is  nothing  in  geology  to 
indicate  six  periods.  One  need  only  consider  the  at- 
tempt to  reconcile  Genesis  and  geology  to  plainly  see 
that  the  Mosaic  record  was  intended  to  be  taken  in 
its  obvious  sense.  The  forced  interpretations  put  upon 
the  Hebrew  story  to  make  it  appear  to  be  historical 
and  literal  truth  make  it  more  absurd  than  it  would 
otherwise  appear.  Think  of  Adam  created  (according 
to  one  account)  on  the  second  day,  and  Eve  on  the 
sixth  day,  and  then  accept  the  hypothesis  that  these 
creative  days  represent  indefinite  periods  of  thousands, 
if  not  millions,  of  years  to  each  day,  so  that  four  in- 
definite periods  of  thousands  of  years  passed  away  be- 
fore Adam  had  his  Eve  to  be  his  helpmeet,  and  what 
a  long,  lonely  time  he  must  have  had !  Then  how 
small  the  human  census  must  have  been  for  unnum- 
bered ages,  and  how  strange  the  fact  that  the  same 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL,  177 

writer  says  that  Adam  "  lived  nine  hundred  and 
thirty  years,  and  he  died;"  that  is  to  say,  he  died 
several  hundred  thousand  years  before  the  rib  was 
taken  from  his  side  to  make  him  a  wife ! 

But  the  fact  must  be  emphasized  that  it  is  quite  use- 
less to  criticise  the  so-called  Mosaic  narrative  of  the 
fall,  because  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  huge  myth  or 
allegory  by  the  best  scholarship  of  modern  times. 
The  Christian  author  of  the  Beginnings  of  History 
has  with  profound  research  actually  produced  and 
printed  the  stories  of  many  ancient  peoples  in  con- 
trast with  the  narrative  in  Genesis.  He  says  in  the 
preface  to  his  book :  "  This  is  the  problem  which  I 
have  been  led  to  examine  in  comparing  the  narrations 
of  the  Sacred  Book  with  those  current  long  ages  be- 
fore the  time  of  Moses  among  nations  whose  civiliza- 
tion dated  back  into  the  remote  past,  with  whom  Israel 
was  surrounded,  from  among  whom  it  came  out.  As 
far  as  I  myself  am  concerned,  the  conclusion  from  this 
study  is  not  doubtful.  That  which  we  read  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  not  an  account  dictated  by 
God  himself,  the  possession  of  which  was  the  exclu- 
sive privilege  of  the  chosen  people.  It  is  a  tradition 
whose  origin  is  lost  in  the  night  of  the  remotest  ages, 
and  which  all  the  great  nations  of  Western  Asia  pos- 
sessed in  common,  with  some  variations.  The  very 
form  given  it  in  the  Bible  is  so  closely  related  to  that 
which  has  been  lately  discovered  in  Babylon  and 
Chaldea,  it  follows  so  exactly  the  same  course,  that 
it  is  quite  impossible  for  me  to  doubt  any  longer. 

12 


178  SKELETON  KEYS. 

The  school  of  Alexandria  in  general,  and  Origen  in 
particular,  in  the  first  centuries  of  the  Church  inter- 
preted the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  in  the  allegorical 
sense;  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  great  Cardinal 
Cajetan  revived  this  system,  and,  bold  as  it  may  ap- 
pear, it  has  never  been  the  object  of  any  ecclesiastical 
censure." 

It  is  well  understood  among  men  of  learning  that 
the  whole  story  of  Eden,  the  talking  serpent,  and  the 
sinning  woman  is  a  myth,  and  that  all  nations  of  sun- 
worshippers  have  had  substantially  the  same  legend, 
and  their  priests,  poets,  and  philosophers  have  not 
hesitated  to  acknowledge  among  themselves  its  fabu- 
lous character.  That  early  Jewish  and  Christian 
writers  freely  admitted  the  allegorical  character  of 
the  narrative  ascribed  to  Moses  is  well  known. 
Maimonides,  a  learned  Jewish  rabbi,  said :  "  One 
ought  not  to  understand  nor  take  according  to  the 
letter  that  which  is  written  in  the  Book  of  the  Crea- 
tion, nor  have  the  ideas  concerning  it  that  most  men 
have,  otherwise  our  ancient  sages  would  not  have 
recommended  us  to  carefully  conceal  the  sense  of  it, 
and  on  no  account  to  raise  the  allegorical  veil  which 
conceals  the  truth  it  contains.  Taken  according  to  the 
letter,  this  work  gives  the  most  absurd  and  extrava- 
gant idea  of  divinity.  Whoever  shall  discover  the 
true  sense  of  it  ought  to  be  careful  not  to  divulge 
it."  Philo,  the  great  Jewish  authority,  took  the  same 
ground,  and  wrote  mainly  to  show  the  allegorical  cha- 
racter of  all  the  sacred  books.     Josephus  held  similar 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  179 

views,  and  so  did  Papias  and  many  of  the  early  Chris- 
tian Fathers.  Origen  said  :  "  What  man  of  good 
sense  will  ever  persuade  himself  that  there  was  a 
first,  second,  and  a  third  day,  and  that  these  days  had 
each  their  morning  and  evening  without  the  not-yet- 
existing  sun,  moon,  and  stars  ?  What  man  sufficiently 
simple  to  believe  that  God,  acting  the  part  of  a  gar- 
dener, planted  a  garden  in  the  East — that  the  '  tree  of 
life '  was  a  real  tree,  evident  to  the  senses,  whose  fruit 
had  the  virtue  of  preserving  life?"  etc.  St.  Augus- 
tine held  the  same  views  as  to  the  allegorical  character 
of  the  so-called  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  and 
fall,  and  so  did  Tertullian,  Clement,  and  Ambrose. 
Some  of  the  early  Christian  authorities  carried  this 
idea  of  the  allegorical  character  of  the  Scriptures  so 
far  as  to  apply  it  to  the  Gospels  themselves.  "  There 
are  things  therein "  (said  Origen)  "  which,  taken  in 
their  literal  sense,  are  mere  falsities  and  lies;"  and 
St.  Gregory  asserted  of  the  letter  of  Scripture  that  "  it 
is  not  only  dead,  but  deadly ;"  while  Athanasius  ad- 
monished us  that  "  should  we  understand  Sacred  Writ 
according  to  the  letter  we  should  fall  into  the  most 
enormous  blasphemies."  It  seems  to  have  been  fully 
realized  in  early  times  that  there  was  no  rational  way 
to  interpret  Moses  and  his  writings  but  upon  the  alle- 
gorical hypothesis.  As  the  Mosaic  account  of  the 
creation  and  the  fall  of  man  is  so  evidently  the  same 
story  that  was  suggested  to  the  Persians  and  other 
nations  by  the  astronomical  phenomena,  we  are  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  this  is  the  only  key  to  unlock 


180  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  mysteries  of  the  first  three  chapters  of  Genesis. 
If  the  original  story  is  known  to  have  been  founded 
upon  the  ancient  astrological  religion,  the  substantial 
copy  in  our  Jewish  Scriptures  must  have  the  same 
basis.  All  the  ancient  religions  had  their  Cohala — 
secret  words  and  initiations — and  the  Jewish  and 
Christian  Scriptures  are  no  exceptions,  as  is  seen 
upon  their  very  surface.  We  may  not  have  all  their 
secrets — some  of  them  may  not  be  proper  things  to 
write  about  in  our  day — but  no  fair  man  of  intelli- 
gence can  successfully  deny  that  many  of  those  things 
which  are  absurd  if  taken  for  historical  truth  are  at 
once  explained  by  reference  to  the  solar  cults  of  the 
ancients. 

Many  theologians  have  virtually  admitted  that  there 
is  nothing  injurious  to  the  interests  of  true  religion  in 
the  hypothesis  here  presented,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
there  is  much  that  is  truly  beautiful  and  calculated  to 
elevate  and  inspire  the  devout  mind.  Even  the  dis- 
tinguished Albertus,  of  the  twelfth  Christian  century, 
surnamed  the  Great  for  his  attainments  as  a  scholastic 
ecclesiastic,  did  not  hesitate  to  write :  "  All  the  mys- 
teries of  the  incarnation  of  our  Saviour  Christ,  and  all 
the  circumstances  of  his  marvellous  life  from  his  con- 
ception to  his  ascension,  are  to  be  traced  out  in  the 
constellations  and  are  figured  in  the  stars."  "The 
Gospel  in  the  Stars "  was  the  significant  advertise- 
ment of  a  course  of  sermons  recently  delivered  in  a 
prominent  Lutheran  church  in  Philadelphia  by  a 
learned  doctor  of  divinity,  and,  though  many  of  his 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  181 

hearers  thought  that  the  title  should  have  beea  "  The 
Stars  in  the  Gospel,"  it  was  certainly  an  evidence  of 
progress  and  increasing  light  to  have  a  frank  admis- 
sion from  such  a  source  that  all  the  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel and  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  were  pre- 
figured in  the  celestial  heavens  and  illustrated  in  the 
constellations  of  the  solar  zodiac. 

This  author  admits  the  identity  between  the  tenets 
of  the  astro-theology  of  ancient  sun-worshippers  and 
the  present  dominant  theology  of  Christendom,  but 
assumes  that  the  original  construction  of  the  celestial 
heavens  and  its  fanciful  division  into  constellations 
had  reference  to,  and  in  fact  prefigured,  what  was 
literally  fulfilled  in  Christianity.  He  finds  in  the 
solar  zodiac  of  Esne  in  Egypt  as  clear  predictions  of 
the  coming  of  Christ  as  he  finds  in  Isaiah  or  any 
other  Jewish  prophet.  Thus,  he  "gives  away"  the 
whole  argument,  and  unwittingly  admits  the  natural 
origin  of  all  the  distinctive  tenets  of  modern  dog- 
matic theology.  This  last  craze  may  well  be  re- 
garded as  a  compound  of  scientific  trifling  and  the- 
ological moonshine. 

But  it  is  said  by  theologians  that  man  is  depraved, 
and  that  the  present  moral  status  of  humanity  confirms 
the  dogma  of  total  depravity  by  descent  through  fallen 
and  depraved  ancestors.  This  involves  the  question. 
What  is  depravity? 

That  man  is  not  perfect  in  morality  is  as  true  as 
that  he  is  not  perfect  in  body  nor  in  mentality.  But 
does  not  every  one  know  by  his  own  experience  and 


182  SKELETON  KEYS. 

observation  that  human  shortcomings  mainly  arise 
from  a  want  of  perfect  development  and  the  influence 
of  environment,  rather  than  from  essential,  innate 
viciousness  ?  What  is  called  "  sin  "  should  be  known 
as  "  undevelopment,"  and,  as  real  as  is  the  law  of 
heredity,  it  is  no  more  real  than  the  law  of  environ- 
ment. Where  there  is  evidence  of  hereditary  evil 
tendencies  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  back  more  than 
two  or  three  generations  to  find  the  source. 

But  the  fact  must  here  be  emphasized  and  continual- 
ly kept  in  mind  that  the  story  of  Eden  and  the  fall  is 
substantially  found  in  the  annals  of  many  nations  an- 
terior to  the  existence  of  the  Jewish  tribes,  varied  only 
in  trivial  matters.  The  story  of  the  serpent  in  Eden 
is  probably  of  Aryan  source,  to  which  the  conception 
of  the  Satanic  origin  of  evil  was  attached  after  the 
Jews  came  into  close  contact  with  Persian  dualistic 
ideas.  To  doubt  which  was  the  original  and  which 
the  copy,  shows,  regarding  the  well-established  facts 
of  history,  a  want  of  information  so  great  as  to  make 
argument  on  this  matter  quite  useless. 

The  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  if  the  fall  of  Adam 
is  a  fiction,  then  the  entire  system  of  evangelical  theology 
is  based  upon  a  fiction ;  and  the  fruit  must  be  natural  to 
the  tree — a  fictitious  tree  can  only  bear  fictitious  fruit. 
Orthodox  theologians,  especially  of  the  logical  Pres- 
byterian stamp,  realize  that  if  they  give  up  Adam  and 
Eve  as  progenitors  of  the  entire  human  race,  they  give 
up  the  very  foundation-stones  of  the  "redemptive 
scheme."     This  accounts  for  Presbyterian  opposition 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  183 

to  the  doctrine  of  evolution.  They  are  logical  enough 
to  see  that  the  second  Adam  as  a  Saviour  in  the  evan- 
gelical sense  must  share  the  fate  of  the  first  Adam ; 
and  so  Professor  Woodrow  of  South  Carolina  has 
recently  been  degraded  on  account  of  his  theory  of 
evolution. 

The  world  moves,  and,  as  Professor  Marsh  of  Yale 
College  has  well  said,  "  The  doctrine  of  evolution  is 
as  thoroughly  demonstrated  as  the  Copernican  system 
of  astronomy." 

THE  INEVITABLE  CONCLUSION. 
In  the  Popular  Science  Monthly  for  October,  1890, 
we  have  a  very  able  article  from  Andrew  D.  White, 
LL.D.,  ex-president  of  Cornell  University,  showing 
how  completely  science  contradicts  theology  in  regard 
to  the  Edenic  story.  He  shows  that  the  tendency  of 
the  race  has  always  been  upward  from  low  beginnings. 
He  further  shows  that  Archbishop  Whately  and  the 
Duke  of  Argyll  championed  the  Bible  story,  but  were 
so  conclusively  answered  by  Sir  John  Lubbock  and 
Tylor  that  the  views  of  the  archbishop  were  seen  to 
be  untenable,  while  the  duke,  as  an  honest  man  and  a 
sound  thinker,  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  former  views 
and  adopt  the  scientific  theory.  The  light  thrown  upon 
this  subject  by  Herbert  Spencer,  Buckle,  Max  Muller, 
and  scores  of  other  great  scholars  is  among  the  glories 
of  the  century  now  ending.  The  public  declaration 
of  the  celebrated  Von  Martins,  of  his  conversion  to 
the  scientific  view  of  the  story  of  the  Fall,  ought  to 


184  SKELETON  KEYS. 

make  smaller  men  less  confident  of  their  views  on  a 
subject  they  have  never  studied. 

In  1875,  Commodore  Vanderbilt  endowed  a  uni- 
versity in  Tennessee,  and  it  was  put  in  charge  of  the 
Methodists.  Dr.  Alexander  Winchell  was  called  to 
the  chair  of  Geology.  He  was  distinguished  in  his 
specialty  by  his  successful  labors  in  another  uni- 
versity. He  openly  taught  "  that  man  existed  before 
the  period  assigned  to  Adam,  and  that  all  the  human 
race  could  not  have  descended  from  Adam."  The 
Methodist  bishop  told  him  "that  such  views  were 
contrary  to  the  plan  of  redemption."  The  Method- 
ist Conference  resolved  "that  they  would  have  no 
more  of  this,"  and  Professor  Winchell  was  summarily 
dismissed  from  the  chair,  and  the  position,  with  its 
salary,  assigned  to  another.  The  State  University  of 
Michigan  recalled  him  to  his  former  chair  in  that  in- 
stitution, where  he  could  teach  science  regardless  of  the 
impotent  thunders  of  theology. 

The  fall  of  Adam  is  really  the  pivotal  principle  in 
dogmatic  theology  of  the  orthodox  variety.  If  the 
entire  human  race  are  not  descendants  of  a  real,  gen- 
uine, historical  pair  miraculously  created  (a  pair  almost 
divine  in  perfections),  and  who  by  disobedience  fell 
from  their  high  estate,  and  by  their  federal  or  repre- 
sentative character  involved  all  their  countless  descend- 
ants by  natural  generation  and  descent  in  the  same 
ruin, — if  these  things  are  not  true,  then  what  is  called 
the  evangelical  scheme  is  based  upon  a  fiction,  and  is 
to  be  so  treated,  regardless  of  the  effect  upon  other 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  185 

theological  doctrines.  The  dogma  of  a  sudden,  special 
creation  of  a  perfect  man  is  not  sustained  by  the  facts 
of  history  nor  the  science  of  palaeontology.  Scientific 
investigators  find  man,  so  far  as  the  evidence  of  his 
remote  existence  can  be  traced,  very  nearly  allied  to 
apes ;  and  there  is  abundant  evidence  to  show  that 
man  has  been  improving  in  every  respect  as  years  and 
cycles  of  years  have  rolled  away.  It  is  thus  absolutely 
demonstrated  that  the  history  of  our  race  shows  the 
rise  or  ascent  of  man  from  a  very  low  estate,  instead 
of  his  "  fall "  from  a  condition  of  high  perfection. 

But  it  does  not  follow,  because  man  as  we  first  find 
him  was  very  much  like  the  anthropoid  ape,  that  he 
is  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  ape.  The  more  rational 
hypothesis  is,  that  both  apes  and  man  were  evolved 
from  still  lower  animal  forms  by  divergent  lines,  so 
that  there  is  a  relation  of  a  very  distant  cousinship 
existing  between  them.  There  is  many  a  fool-born 
jest  about  man  and  the  monkey,  oft  repeated  by  ad~ 
captandum  theologians  who  have  never  read  Darwin's 
Origin  of  Species  nor  his  Descent  of  Man,  and  who 
therefore  do  not  know  that  there  is  nothing  in  these 
writings  to  justify  such  caricatures. 

The  fact  is,  the  evolution  of  man  by  slow  and  long- 
continued  processes,  instead  of  his  sudden  miraculous 
creation  on  a  certain  day,  is  now  as  well  established  as 
the  law  of  gravitation,  in  the  judgment  of  scientists 
who  are  not  hampered  and  blinded  by  preconceived 
theological  dogmas.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
weight  of  scientific  testimony  is  very  largely  in  favor 


186  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  the  development  of  man,  instead  of  a  miraculous 
and  complete  creation  at  a  particular  period  of  time. 
The  true  ground  will  be  found  to  be  creation  by  evo- 
lution; and  if  our  purblind  sacerdotalists  had  accepted 
this  doctrine,  as  the  brightest  of  them  have  privately 
done,  they  would  have  saved  themselves  the  disgrace 
of  becoming  the  laughing-stock  of  the  scientific  world. 
If  man  was  brought  to  his  present  high  estate  by  a 
system  of  evolution,  it  is  no  less  the  work  of  the 
Supreme  Creator  of  the  universe  than  if  he  had  been 
made  from  clay  in  an  instant  of  time ;  and  if  the 
character  of  man,  mentally  and  morally,  is  admitted 
to  be  based  on  the  degree  of  his  development,  it  would 
solve  many  a  knotty  question  in  theology  and  morals. 
At  any  rate,  the  evolution  hypothesis  has  many  ad- 
vantages over  the  Church  dogma,  manifestly  founded 
on  a  pagan  fable.  The  fact  is,  sacerdotalists  have 
always  been  their  own  worst  enemies,  and  have  always 
been  defeated  in  their  battles  with  science  and  a  true 
philosophy. 

It  is  not  intended  to  ignore  the  fact  that  legends  of 
a  paradisiacal  period,  a  real  "  golden  age,"  are  found 
among  all  ancient  peoples,  also  of  periods  of  general 
demoralization;  but  these  legends  can  easily  be  ac- 
counted for.  It  is  a  natural  instinct  in  man  to  praise 
the  past,  and  to  think  that  "  the  former  times  were 
better  than  the  present."  We  see  this  among  aged 
men  and  women  to-day.  Then  it  is  well  known  that 
the  stream  of  human  history  has  never  run  in  an  un- 
broken channel.     Our  race  has  ever  had  its  "  ups  and 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  187 

downs,"  and,  comparatively  speaking,  mankind  has 
had  many  falls  and  ascents,  while  the  general  or  ulti- 
mate tendency  and  result  have  been  ascending  higher 
and  higher.  Moreover,  the  golden  age  of  Adam  in 
Eden  must  have  been  very  short,  according  to  the 
fable  of  Genesis,  as  the  fall  occurred  before  he  had  any 
children.  What  a  pity  that  Adam  and  Eve  could  not 
have  maintained  their  innocence  by  blind  obedience 
until  at  least  a  son  and  daughter  could  have  been  born 
to  them  !  This  may  be  considered  irreverent,  but  every- 
body knows  that,  outside  of  the  pulpit  and  the  Sun- 
day-school, the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  is  hardly 
ever  mentioned  except  as  a  huge  joke,  and  that  witty 
preachers  often  take  part  in  laughing  at  it.  It  is  dif- 
ficult to  write  about  a  fiction  otherwise  than  facetiously. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  again  quoting  Professor  Hux- 
ley in  summing  up  my  own  conclusions  in  regard  to 
this  matter : 

"  I  am  fairly  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  how  any  one 
for  a  moment  can  doubt  that  Christian  theology  must 
stand  or  fall  with  the  historical  trustworthiness  of  the 
Jewish  Scriptures.  The  very  conception  of  the  Mes- 
siah, or  Christ,  is  inextricably  interwoven  with  Jewish 
history.  The  identification  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  with 
that  Messiah  rests  upon  the  interpretation  of  passages 
of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  which  have  no  evidential 
value  unless  they  possess  the  historical  character  as- 
signed to  them.  If  the  covenant  with  Abraham  was 
not  made ;  if  circumcision  and  sacrifices  were  not  or- 
dained by   Jehovah ;  if  the  *  ten  words '  were   not 


188  SKELETON  KEYS. 

written  by  God's  hand  on  the  stone  tables ;  if  Abra- 
ham is  more  or  less  a  mythical  hero,  such  as  Theseus ; 
the  story  of  the  deluge  a  fiction ;  that  of  the  fall  a 
legend  ;  that  of  the  creation  the  dream  of  a  seer, — if 
all  these  definite  and  detailed  narratives  of  apparently 
real  events  have  no  more  value  as  history  than  the 
stories  of  the  regal  period  of  Rome,  what  is  to  be  said 
of  the  Messianic  doctrine  which  is  so  much  less  clearly 
enunciated?  And  what  about  the  authority  of  the 
writers  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  who  on 
this  theory  have  not  merely  accepted  flimsy  fictions 
for  solid  truths,  but  have  built  the  very  foundations 
of  Christian  dogma  upon  legends  and  quicksands? 

"  The  antagonism  between  natural  knowledge  and 
the  Pentateuch  would  be  as  great  if  the  speculations 
of  our  time  had  never  been  heard  of.  It  arises  out  of 
contradictions  upon  matters  of  fact.  The  books  of 
ecclesiastical  authority  declare  that  certain  events  hap- 
pened in  a  certain  fashion ;  the  books  of  scientific  au- 
thority say  they  did  not." 

"  What  we  are  pleased  to  call  religion  now-a-days  is 
for  the  most  part  Hellenized  Judaism ;  and,  not  un- 
frequently,  the  Hellenic  element  carries  with  it  a 
mighty  remnant  of  old-world  paganism  and  a  great 
infusion  of  the  worst  and  weakest  products  of  Greek 
scientific  speculation  ;  while  fragments  of  Persian  and 
Babylonian — or  rather  Accadian — mythology  burden 
the  Judaic  contribution  to  the  common  stock.  The 
antagonism  of  Science  is  not  to  Religion,  but  to  the 
heathen  survivals  and  the  bad  philosophy  under  which 


THE  FABULOUS  FALL.  189 

Religion  herself  is  wellnigh  crushed.  Now,  for  my 
part,  I  trust  this  antagonism  will  never  cease,  but 
that  to  the  end  of  time  true  Science  will  continue  to 
fulfil  one  of  her  most  beneficent  functions,  that  of 
relieving  men  from  the  burden  of  false  Science  which 
is  imposed  upon  them  in  the  name  of  Religion." 

The  fact  that  well-dressed  congregations  do  not 
laugh  sacerdotalists  to  scorn  shows  how  safe  it  is  to 
rely  upon  the  credulity  and  indifference  of  those  who 
have  been  taught  mere  myths  as  real  history  from  early 
childhood.  The  day  will  come  when  even  children 
will  laugh  in  the  faces  of  priests  when  they  seriously 
speak  of  the  fall  of  Adam  and  Eve  as  a  matter  of 
actual  occurrence.  The  great  curse  of  true  religion 
to-day  is  literalism,  enforced  by  priestcraft,  in  regard 
to  what  relates  to  our  most  sacred  concerns. 

It  is  no  part  of  our  design  to  here  explain  the  devel- 
opmemt  theory  as  to  how  man  did  originate  from  the 
lower  forms  of  animal  existence,  but  must  refer  those 
who  are  willing  to  learn  to  such  works  as  Darwin's 
Origin  of  Species  and  Descent  of  Man,  Huxley's  Man^s 
Plctce  in  Nature,  and  to  scores  of  other  books  accessible 
to  all.  Perhaps  ninety-nine-hundredths  of  living  work- 
ing scientists  repudiate  the  Adam-and-Eve  story,  and 
regard  it  as  a  fable  intended  to  illustrate  what  man's 
attainments  at  the  time  would  not  enable  him  to  ac- 
count for  on  natural  principles. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

SEARCH  FOR  THE  ''LAST  ADAM." 

"For  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made 
alive."  ,  .  .  "And  so  it  is  written,  the  first  Adam  was  made  a 
living  soul,  the  last  Adam  was  made  a  quickening  spirit." — 
1  Ck)B.  15  :  22-45. 

The  claim  of  sacerdotalism  is  substantially  as  fol- 
lows :  Adam  was  the  first  man  and  the  sole  progenitor 
of  the  entire  human  race.  When  he  fell,  all  his  prog- 
eny "sinned  in  him  and  fell  with  him  in  the  first 
transgression."  Death  was  first  introduced  in  the 
world  by  Adam's  sin,  and  life  is  restored  by  Christ. 
Adam  and  Christ  are  the  two  great  representatives  of 
death  and  life,  of  the  fall  and  the  restoration.  The 
Creator  permitted  this  great  calamity  to  happen,  hav- 
ing purposed  from  all  eternity  to  redeem  this  degen- 
erate race,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  it,  from  the  terrible 
curse  caused  by  Adam's  sin.  In  due  time  he  did  in- 
carnate himself,  became  man,  human  flesh  and  blood, 
by  impregnating,  or  "  overshadowing,"  a  Jewish  vir- 
gin, and  so  was  born,  by  ordinary  generation,  a  human 
babe  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  was 
called  the  Christ.  After  about  thirty  years  this  hu- 
man-born God  died  to  make  it  possible  to  restore  our 
race  to  its  original  moral  status.  This  is  called  the 
"redemptive  scheme,"  and  is  the  sum  and  substance 

190 


SEARCH  FOB  THE  "LAST  ADAM»  191 

of  Christianity,  and  is  fully  set  forth  in  what  is  very 
improperly  called  the  "Apostles'  Creed,"  which  is 
publicly  recited  in  thousands  of  churches  every  Sun- 
day as  an  epitome  of  their  belief. 

The  story  of  this  one  first  man,  who  sinned  by  eat- 
ing an  apple  from  a  certain  forbidden  tree,  has  been 
proved  to  be  a  fable,  a  myth,  an  allegory.  The  legend 
may  shadow  forth  certain  natural  truths,  but  it  is  nev- 
ertheless a  myth.  The  thing  never  occurred.  The 
alleged  facts  are  not  facts.  There  was  no  first  Adam. 
There  may  have  been  some  one  whom  certain  persons 
called  the  last  Adam,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
what  is  said  of  him  was  founded  upon  an  unreality 
— a  thing  which  never  happened.  According  to 
biblical  chronology,  the  last  Adam  did  not  make 
his  advent  until  about  four  thousand  years  after  the 
first  Adam  fell.  Even  this  seems  to  have  been  a  long 
period  to  wait,  but  if  we  accept  the  interpretation  of 
certain  modern  writers,  that  which  is  called  "  the  be- 
ginning "  in  Genesis  may  have  been  forty  thousand  or 
four  hundred  thousand  years  before  the  advent  of 
Jesus.  True,  this  would  show  certain  events  to  have 
been  a  very  long  way  apart  (for  instance,  the  creation 
of  Eve  after  that  of  Adam)  and  would  make  the  work 
of  Christ  in  the  "redemptive  act"  occur  ages  and  ages 
afl;er  the  mischief  was  done. 

DOES  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  REFER  TO  JESUS? 

It  is  contended  that  the  promise  of  the  sending  of 
a  Saviour  was  made   the  very  day   that  the    first 


192  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Adam  sinned,  and  that  the  salvation  of  the  sinner  was 
conditioned  upon  man's  faith  in,  and  acceptance  of,  the 
promise  that  in  due  time,  not  mentioned,  the  last  Adam 
should  come  and  repair  all  the  mischief  which  the  first 
Adam  had  caused.  It  is  claimed  by  sacerdotalists  that 
the  saying  in  Genesis  3  :  15  is  the  first  promise  of  a 
Redeemer  :  "  And  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  [the 
serpent]  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and 
her  seed  ;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head  and  thou  shalt  bruise 
his  heel."  But  these  very  words  occur  in  the  pagan 
fables  that  were  written  long  before  the  time  that 
Genesis  was  written,  and  in  some  of  these  fables,  much 
more  consistently  with  the  passage  above  quoted,  the 
woman  is  represented  as  standing  with  her  heel  on  the 
serpent's  head.  Then  it  is  claimed  that  the  Creator 
accepted  the  sacrifice  of  Abel  because  it  was  a  bloody 
sacrifice,  prefiguring  the  shedding  of,  the  blood  of 
Christ,  and  that  he  rejected  the  offering  of  Cain  be- 
cause there  was  no  blood  in  it.  We  have  looked  in  vain 
through  the  Old-Testament  Scriptures  for  a  promise  of 
the  last  Adam  who  was  to  come  and  redeem  man,  but 
have  failed  to  find  it.  A  system  of  "  redemption  "  that 
is  based  on  expressions  so  enigmatical  must  have  a  very 
flimsy  foundation  upon  which  to  stand.  It  is  like  the 
assumption  that  women  generally  have  an  aversion  to 
reptiles  because  a  serpent  tempted  Eve  and  brought  so 
many  curses  on  the  sex.  To  such  miserable  subterfuges 
will  sacerdotalists  resort  to  maintain  a  theory. 

One  of  the  first  points  emphasized  in  connection 
with  the  advent  of  Jesus  is  the  claim  that  it  was  in 


SEARCH  FOR  THE  "LAST  ADAM."  193 

exact  fulfilment  of  Hebrew  prophecy.  Certain  orthodox 
Christian  writers  claim  that  there  are  two  hundred 
prophecies  in  the  Old  Testament  relating  to  Jesus, 
while  certain  other  eminent  German  and  English  Chris- 
tian scholars  deny  that  there  is  even  one  prophecy  which 
does  not  admit  of  another  and  a  more  rational  explana- 
tion. The  quotations  from  Old-Testament  prophecies 
in  the  Gospels  are,  to  say  the  least,  unfortunate,  and 
rather  suggest  the  hypothesis  that  certain  things,  if 
done  at  all,  were  done  to  make  the  history  fit  the 
prediction. 

Learned  Bible  critics  contend  that  there  is  not  to  be 
found  a  single  example  of  such  redemptive  proph- 
ecy, even  though  the  theory  of  the  double  sense  of 
prophecy  be  admitted.  These  predictions  or  hopes 
were  intended  to  apply  to  eminent  characters  in  He- 
brew history  as  deliverers,  and  can  only  be  applied  to 
Jesus  by  a  forced  and  unnatural  construction ;  and, 
though  Cyrus  and  others  appeared,  the  expectations 
of  the  Jews  have  not  yet  been  realized,  and  some  of 
them  are  still  awaiting  thdr  Messiah,  spurning  the  idea 
that  the  predictions  of  their  prophets  were  fulfilled  in 
the  humble  Man  of  Nazareth. 

One  or  two  examples  of  so-called  Messianic  proph- 
ecies must  suffice.  Matthew  (27  :  9)  says  the  prophecy 
of  "Jeremy  the  prophet"  regarding  the  thirty  pieces 
of  silver  was  fulfilled  in  the  betrayal  of  Jesus ;  whereas 
no  such  prophecy  is  found  in  Jeremiah,  and,  thougli 
similar  words  occur  in  Zechariah,  they  have  another 
obvious    application.      Then   in   Matthew   (chap.    2) 

13 


194  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Hosea  is  quoted  to  prove  that  Jesus  dwelt  in  Egypt  to 
fulfil  a  prophecy,  whereas  it  is  evident  (Hos.  11:1) 
that  it  was  of  Israel,  not  Jesus,  that  those  words  were 
spoken.  Again,  in  Matt.  22  :  41  the  quotation  from 
the  Psalms  is  obviously  misapplied — "  The  Lord  said 
unto  my  lord,"  etc. — as  it  was  not  written  by  David, 
but  Nathan  addressed  it  to  David.  It  was  the  poet 
that  called  David  lord,  which  spoils  the  prophecy  and 
ruins  the  argument  of  the  evangelist.  Many  things 
recorded  in  the  New  Testament  are  unwittingly  ad- 
mitted to  have  been  done  to  fulfil  a  supposed  prophecy 
— "that  it  might  be  fulfilled."  There  is  one  very 
amusing  example  of  an  attempt  to  fulfil  an  alleged 
prophecy — that  of  Jesus  dwelling  in  Nazareth,  because 
it  had  been  prophesied  that  he  should  be  called  a  Naz- 
arene,  no  such  prophecy  ever  having  been  uttered. 

The  Indian  Yedas  are  full  of  alleged  prophecies  re- 
lating to  coming  incarnations,  and  so  are  the  Chinese 
sacred  books.  Even  Zoroaster,  who  lived  570  years 
B.  c,  prophesied  :  "  A  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a 
son,  and  a  star  shall  appear  blazing  at  midday  to  an- 
nounce his  appearance.  When  you  behold  the  star 
(said  he),  follow  it  whithersoever  it  leads  you.  Adore 
the  mysterious  child,  oifering  him  gifts  with  profound 
humility.  He  is  indeed  the  Almighty  Word  which 
created  the  heavens.  He  is  indeed  your  Lord  and 
everlasting  King"  {History  of  Idolatry,  Faber,  vol. 
ii.  p.  92).  It  was  believed  that  this  prophecy  was  ful- 
filled by  the  advent  of  the  Persian  god  Sosia.  It  was 
common  among  the  ancients  to  presage  the  birth  of  a 


SEARCH  FOR  THE  "LAST  ADAM."  195 

god  by  the  appearance  of  a  mysterious  star,  and  for 
astronomers  to  hasten  to  adore  the  new-born  deity  and 
present  him  gifts.  Greece,  Rome,  Arabia,  and  even 
Mexico,  were  all  familiar  with  Messianic  prophecies. 
Bishop  Hawes  says  that  "  the  idea  that  God  should  in 
some  extraordinary  manner  visit  and  dwell  with  men 
is  found  in  a  thousand  forms  among  ancient  heathens." 

The  fact  is,  there  is  no  promise  or  prophecy  of  a 
"  last  Adam  "  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  The  Jews 
give  a  very  different  interpretation  to  those  utterances 
alleged  to  be  Messianic,  and  the  alleged  types  of  Jesus 
in  the  Old  Testament  are  purely  fanciful,  and  many 
of  them  are  exceedingly  childish.  The  idea  that  Solo- 
mon and  Moses  and  the  scapegoat  were  types  of  Jesus 
is  simply  absurd,  and  not  creditable  to  the  alleged 
antetype.  There  is  no  Jesus  of  Nazareth  in  the  He- 
brew oracles. 

The  bloody  sacrifices  of  the  Old  Testament  were 
antedated  by  heathen  nations  centuries  before  the  Jews. 
The  sacrificing  of  brute  beasts  was  heathenism  pure 
and  simple,  to  conciliate  an  imaginary  anthropomorphic 
god.  Twenty  generations  of  innocent  animals  slaugh- 
tered by  divine  command  in  order  to  notify  the  world 
beforehand  of  the  coming  of  the  last  Adam,  yet  never 
saying  so,  seem  to  have  failed  to  prepare  the  people 
for  the  alleged  spiritual  sacrifice  of  Jesus.  It  was  a 
signal  failure.  If  these  bloody  offerings  were  types  of 
Jesus,  there  must  have  been  some  resemblance.  Where- 
in did  it  lie  ?  A  bullock  was  forced  to  the  altar ;  he 
died  like  any  beast  at  the  shambles.     It  made  the 


196  SKELETON  KEYS. 

sanctuary  a  slaughter-house.  The  involuntary  offering 
of  an  innocent  lamb  or  pigeon  cannot  be  a  type  of  a 
willing  offering  of  a  human  being.  The  whole  scheme 
of  bloody  animal  sacrifices  is  a  type  of  nothing  but  the 
cruelty  of  barbarism,  and  meant  a  good  dinner  and  fat 
priests !  It  is  generally  condemned  by  the  Hebrew 
prophets  as  useless,  and  was  entirely  rejected  by  those 
who  "  professed  and  called  themselves  Christians." 

Since  we  can  learn  absolutely  nothing  that  is  ration- 
ally reliable  concerning  the  "last  Adam"  from  the 
Old  Testament,  it  becomes  necessary  for  us  to  consult 
comparatively  modern  history.  The  advent  of  Jesus 
was  made,  if  made  at  all  within  the  historic  period, 
scarcely  nineteen  hundred  years  ago.  If  such  a  per- 
son appeared  among  men  at  that  time,  there  must  be 
some  written  record  of  so  wonderful  an  event  by 
contemporary  parties. 

ALLEGED  JEWISH  TESTIMONY  KEGARDING  JESUS. 

In  the  Jewish  Talmud,  a  perfect  wilderness  of  re- 
ligious and  secular  speculations,  we  find  many  spiteful 
and  distorted  allusions  to  one  Jesus  who  went  into 
Egypt  and  learned  sorcery  and  magic,  and  by  such  in- 
fluence raised  a  tumult  among  the  people  and  led  away 
a  party  of  deluded  followers.  Whether  this  was  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  it  is  impossible  to  say.  There  were  many 
persons  bearing  similar  names. 

There  is  at  the  present  day  much  ignorance — or  at 
least  indifference — even  among  intelligent  Christians,  to 
the  fact  that  the  very  name  of  Jesus  is  not  of  Hebrew, 


SEARCH  FOR  THE  ''LAST  ADAM»  197 

but  of  Greek  origin,  as  indeed  is  the  whole  history  of 
his  life  as  related  in  the  four  Gospels ;  and  no  one  but 
those  who  have  a  previous  theory  to  uphold  can  believe 
that  the  people  of  Jerusalem  during  the  time  of  Christ 
spoke  any  other  language  than  that  spoken  by  their 
forefathers.  From  this  we  will  pass  to  other  instances 
where  the  name  of  Jesus  is  applied  to  others  not  named 
in  the  Gospels ;  and  it  will  be  a  matter  of  surprise  to 
many  to  know  that  no  less  than  fifteen,  most  of  them 
living  at  the  time  of  the  Christian  era,  are  named  by 
the  Jewish  historian  Josephus  as  bearing  the  name  of 
Jesus: 

1.  Jesus,  son  of  Josedek  (Ant,  xi.  iii.  10,  iv.  1). 

2.  Jesus,  surnamed  Jason,  son  of  Simon  (Ant,  xi. 
iii.  10,  iv.  1). 

3.  Jesus,  son  of  Phabet  (Ant,  xv.  ix.  3). 

4.  Jesus,  son  of  Sie  (^Ant,  xvii.  xiii.  1). 

5.  Jesus,  son  of  Damneus  (Ant,  xx.  ix.  1). 

6.  Jesus,  son  of  Gamaliel  (Ant,  xx.  ix.  4). 

7.  Jesus,  son  of  Sapphias  ( Wars,  ii.  xx.  4). 

8.  Jesus,  son  of  Shaphat  ( Wars,  iii.  ix.  7). 

9.  Jesus,  son  of  Ananus  ( Wars,  iv.  iv.  9). 

10.  Jesus,  son  of  Ananus,  a  plebeian  (  Wars,  vi.  v.  3). 

11.  Jesus,  son  of  Gamala  (Life,  38,  41). 

12.  Jesus,  a  high  priest  (Wars,  vi.  ii.  2). 

13.  Jesus,  son  of  Thebuthi  ( Wars,  vi.  viii.  3). 

14.  Jesus,  father  of  Elymas. 

15.  Jesus,  surnamed  Barabbas. 

Josephus  also  refers  to  one  Judas,  a  Gaulonite,  who 
was  a  leader  of  the  people,  and  whose  character  and 


198  SKELETON  KEYS. 

career  answer  in  so  many  respects  to  qualities  credited 
to  Jesus  of  Nazareth  that  it  is  supposed  by  many  that 
the  name  Jesus  had  been  changed  to  Judas ;  and  he 
also  refers  to  other  Jesuses  who  are  too  much  like 
the  traditional  Jesus  of  the  Gospels  in  many  things  to 
be  mere  coincidences.  Then  there  was  the  meek  Jesus, 
mentioned  by  Josephus,  who  lived  during  the  reign  of 
Albinus,  who  prophesied  such  evil  things,  and  who 
was  scourged  until  his  bones  were  laid  bare,  and  who 
uttered  no  reply,  and  in  so  many  ways  was  like  the 
Jesus  of  tradition  (  Wars  of  the  Jews,  book  vi.,  chap.  5). 
Then  we  have  the  mention  of  the  Jesus,  as  is  well 
known,  who  was  the  friend  of  Simon  and  John  and  the 
"  son  of  Sapphias,"  who  was  the  leader  of  a  seditious 
tumult,  who  was  betrayed  by  one  of  his  followers,  and 
defeated  by  Josephus  himself  when  he  was  governor 
of  Galilee,  and  put  to  shame  and  confusion  {Life  of 
Josephus,  sec.  12-14). 

This  undoubtedly  shows  that  nearly  all  that  is 
claimed  for  Jesus  of  Nazareth  might  have  been  said 
as  the  substance  of  what  was  written  by  Josephus 
concerning  real  historical  persons  called  Jesus.  This 
may  account  for  the  conglomerate  character  and  the 
many  inconsistencies  ascribed  to  this  Jesus  of  tradition. 

The  failure  of  Jewish  writers  of  the  first  century  to 
recognize  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  even  in  the  most  casual 
way,  is  a  significant  fact.  Philo,  the  celebrated  writer 
of  his  day,  was  born  about  twenty  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  and   spent  his  time   in   pliilosophical 


SEARCH  FOR  THE  "LAST  ADAM."  199 

studies  at  that  centre  of  learning,  Alexandria  in 
Egypt.  He  labored  diligently  and  wrote  volumi- 
nously to  reconcile  the  teachings  of  Plato  with  the 
writings  of  the  Old  Testament,  and,  though  in  the 
prime  and  vigor  of  manhood  when  Jesus  is  said  to 
have  lived,  and  dwelling  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Judea,  and  in  the  very  city  where  Christianity  was 
early  introduced,  yet  this  learned,  devout,  and  honest 
Jew  makes  no  mention  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

Even  more  strange  is  the  silence  of  Josephus,  the 
Jewish  historian,  who  was  born  about  A.  d.  35,  and 
lived  and  wrote  extensively  until  after  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  and  yet  he  never  mentioned  the  name 
of  Jesus.  The  celebrated  passage  regarding  Christ  is 
known  to  be  a  forgery,  and  the  one  respecting  "  James 
the  brother  of  Jesus,  called  the  Christ,"  is  by  no  means 
worthy  of  confidence.  It  must  be  certain  that  in  the 
first  century  of  our  era  Jesus  of  Nazareth  did  not 
attract  the  attention  of  these  fair  and  distinguished 
Jewish  writers,  if  he  in  fact  existed. 

In  early  times  the  name  Jesus,  as  has  been  shown, 
was  as  common  as  the  names  John  or  James,  and  when 
the  name  is  mentioned  it  is  impossible  to  say  who  is 
referred  to.  The  passage  in  Josephus  referring  to  Jesus 
thus,  "  About  this  time  appeared  Jesus,  a  wise  man,  if 
indeed  it  be  right  to  call  him  a  man,"  etc.,  is  acknow- 
ledged by  celebrated  Christian  writers  to  be  a  fraud. 
Its  authenticity  was  given  up  as  long  ago  as  the  time 
of  Dr.  Nathaniel  Lardner,  author  of  the  Credibility  of 
the  Gospel  History,  and  one  of  the  most  highly  regarded 


200  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  Christian  writers.  Gibbon,  too,  decided  it  to  be  a 
forgery.  Bishop  Warburton,  the  distinguished  defender 
of  Pope's  Essay  on  Man  against  the  charge  of  atheism, 
and  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  Christian  defend- 
ers, agreed  with  Lardner.  The  Rev.  Robert  Taylor 
quotes  many  other  Christian  writers  as  coinciding. 
The  biographer  of  Josephus  in  the  Micyclopcedia 
Britannica  says  the  passage  is  unanimously  regarded 
as  spurious.  Drs.  Oort,  Hookyaas,  and  Kuenen, 
German  Christian  writers  of  great  repute,  in  the 
Bible  for  Learners  declare  the  passage  to  be  "  certainly 
spurious"  and  "inserted  by  a  later  and  a  Christian 
hand." 

Gibbon  says  it  was  forged  between  the  time  of 
Origen  (a.  d.  230)  and  Eusebius  (a.  d.  315).  The 
credit  of  the  forgery,  however,  is  generally  given  to 
Eusebius,  who  first  quoted  it.  The  distinguished 
authors  of  the  Bible  for  Learners  distinctly  state  that 
Josephus  never  mentioned  Jesus,  and  cite  Josephus's 
close  following  of  the  atrocious  career  of  Herod  up  to 
the  very  last  moments  of  his  life,  without  mentioning 
the  slaughter  of  the  innocents,  as  indubitable  proof 
that  Josephus  knew  nothing  of  Jesus.  Dr.  Lardner 
gives  these  reasons  why  he  regards  the  passage  as  a 
forgery : 

"  I  do  not  perceive  that  we  at  all  want  the  suspected 
testimony  to  Jesus,  which  was  never  quoted  by  any  of 
our  Christian  ancestors  before  Eusebius. 

"Nor  do  I  recollect  that  Josephus  has  anywhere 
mentioned  the  name  or  word  Christ  in  any  of  his  works. 


SEARCH  FOB  THE  ''LAST  ADAM."  201 

except  the  testimony  above  mentioned  and  the  passage 
concerning  James,  the  Lord's  brother. 

"  It  interrupts  the  narrative. 

"  The  language  is  quite  Christian. 

"  It  is  not  quoted  by  Chrysostom,  though  he  often 
refers  to  Josephus,  and  could  not  have  omitted  quoting 
it  had  it  been  in  the  text. 

"  It  is  not  quoted  by  Photius,  though  he  has  three 
articles  concerning  Josephus. 

"  Under  the  article  ^  Justus  of  Tiberias '  this  author 
(Photius)  expressly  states  that  the  historian  (Josephus^, 
being  a  Jew,  has  not  taken  the  least  notice  of  Christ. 

"Neither  Justin  in  his  dialogue  with  Trypho  the 
Jew,  nor  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  who  made  so  many 
extracts  from  Christian  authors,  nor  Origen  against 
Celsus,  have  ever  mentioned  this  testimony. 

"  But,  on  the  contrary,  in  chapter  xxxv.  of  the  first 
book  of  that  work,  Origen  openly  affirms  that  Jose- 
phus, who  had  mentioned  John  the  Baptist,  did  not 
acknowledge  Christ." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Giles,  author  of  the  Oiristian  Records, 
adds  to  the  reasons  for  rejecting  the  passage,  as  follows : 

"  Those  who  are  best  acquainted  with  the  character 
of  Josephus  and  the  style  of  his  writings  have  no  hes- 
itation in  condemning  this  passage  as  a  forgery  inter- 
polated in  the  text  during  the  third  century  by  some 
pious  Christian,  who  was  scandalized  that  so  famous  a 
writer  as  Josephus  should  have  taken  no  notice  of  the 
Gospels  or  of  Christ  their  subject.  But  the  zeal  of 
the  interpolator  has  outrun  his  discretion,  for  we  might 


202  SKELETON  KEYS. 

as  well  expect  to  gather  grapes  from  thorns  or  figs  from 
thistles  as  to  find  this  notice  of  Christ  among  the  Ju- 
daizing  writings  of  Josephus.  It  is  well  known  that 
this  author  was  a  zealous  Jew,  devoted  to  the  laws  of 
Moses  and  the  traditions  of  his  countrymen.  How, 
then,  could  he  have  written  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ  f 
Such  an  admission  would  have  proved  him  to  be  a 
Christian  himself,  in  which  case  the  passage  under 
consideration,  too  long  for  a  Jew,  would  have  been  far 
too  short  for  a  believer  in  the  new  religion  ;  and  thus 
the  passage  stands  forth,  like  an  ill-set  jewel,  contrast- 
ing most  inharmoniously  with  everything  around  it. 
If  it  had  been  genuine,  we  might  be  sure  that  Justin 
Martyr,  Tertullian,  and  Chrysostom  would  have  quoted 
it  in  their  controversies  with  the  Jews,  and  that  Origen 
or  Photius  would  have  mentioned  it.  But  Eusebius, 
the  ecclesiastical  historian  (i.  11),  is  the  first  who  quotes 
it,  and  our  reliance  on  the  judgment,  or  even  honesty, 
of  this  writer  is  not  so  great  as  to  allow  our  consider- 
ing everything  found  in  his  works  as  undoubtedly 
genuine." 

Oxley  in  his  great  work  on  Egypt  says  :  "  However, 
I  have  found  in  some  papers  that  this  discourse  was 
not  written  by  Josephus,  hut  by  one  Caius,  a  "presbyter." 

Here,  according  to  their  own  showing,  what  had 
passed  for  centuries  as  the  work  of  Josephus  was 
a  fraud  perpetrated  by  a  dignitary  of  the  Church. 
This  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  ancient  custom.  In 
addition  to  all  this,  there  is  not  an  original  manuscript 
of  Josephus  in  existence,  nor  one  (that  I  have  heard  of) 


SEARCH  FOB  THE  ''LAST  ADAM."  203 

that  dates  farther  back  than  the  tenth  or  eleventh  cen- 
tury A.  D. 

Another  forged  reference  to  Christ  is  found  in  the 
Antiquities,  book  xx.  chapter  ix.  section  1,  where  Jo- 
sephus  is  made  to  speak  of  James,  "  the  brother  of 
Jesus,  who  was  called  Christ."  Some  theologians 
who  reject  the  longer  reference  to  Jesus  accept  this  as 
genuine.  But  they  do  it  without  reconciling  the  dis- 
crepancies between  the  stories  regarding  the  end  of 
this  same  James.  According  to  this  passage,  James 
was  put  to  death  under  the  order  of  the  high  priest. 
But  according  to  Hegesippus,  a  converted  Jew  who 
wrote  a  history  of  the  Christian  Church  about  A.  D. 
170,  James  was  killed  in  a  tumult,  not  by  sentence  of 
a  court.  Clement  of  Alexandria  confirms  this,  and  is 
quoted  by  Eusebius  accordingly.  Eusebius  also  quotes 
the  line  from  Josephus  without  noticing  that  the  two 
do  not  agree.  The  statement  is  quoted  in  various 
ways  in  the  early  writers,  and  the  conclusion  is  irre- 
sistible that  the  copies  of  Josephus  were  tampered  with 
by  copyists.  Even  had  Jesus  lived  and  taught  as  de- 
scribed in  the  Gospels,  Josephus,  an  orthodox  Jew, 
a  priest,  and  conservative  government  official,  would 
never  have  given  him  the  title  of  Christ,  or  Messiah, 
a  party  leader  for  whom  the  Jews  were  looking  to  free 
them  from  their  Roman  bondage. 

PAGAN  EVIDENCE. 

Among  the  great  pagan  writers  of  the  first  century 
of  our  era  we  find  absolutely  nothing  relating  to  Jesus 


204  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  Nazareth.  There  was  Seneca,  living  not  far  from 
these  times,  and  then  the  Elder  and  the  Younger  Pliny, 
Tacitus,  Plutarch,  Gralen,  Epictetus,  Marcus  Antoni- 
nus— some  of  the  noblest  men  of  the  world.  I^et  us 
look  at  some  few  fragments  of  testimony  that  we 
have.  One  historian  writes  that  "  under  a  ringleader 
named  Chrestus  the  Jews  raised  a  tumult."  In  an- 
other place  he  refers  to  the  Christians  as  a  class  of 
men  devoted  to  a  "  new  and  mischievous  superstition." 
And  Tacitus  speaks  of  Judea  as  "  the  source  of  this 
evil."  Another  speaks  of  the  Christians  as  "a  sect 
hated  for  their  crimes,"  and  Suetonius  gives  Nero  spe- 
cial praise  for  having  done  the  most  that  he  could  to 
wipe  them  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  In  a  Life  of 
Claudius,  another  Roman  emperor,  Christ  is  spoken 
of  as  "a  restless,  seditious  Jewish  agitator."  Pliny 
the  Younger,  writing  to  the  emperor  about  A.  D.  104, 
when  he  was  governor  of  Bithynia,  says  the  Christians 
do  not  worship  the  gods  nor  the  emperors — as  most 
of  the  people  then  did — ^nor  could  they  be  induced  to 
curse  Christ.  He  says  they  met  mornings  for  vir- 
tuous vows,  and  chanted  a  hymn  to  Christ  as  to  a  god, 
and  in  the  evening  they  ate  together  a  common  meal. 
And  after  he  had  put  them  to  torture  he  said  all  he  could 
find  against  them  was  "  a  perverse  and  immoderate  su- 
perstition." Lucian,  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  speaks  of  Jesus  as  the  crucified  Sophist.  We 
do  not  know  certainly  whether  these  references  to  Christ 
allude  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth  at  all.  Chrestiana  and 
Chrestus  were  designations  in  common  use  all  over  the 


SEARCH  FOR  THE  "LAST  ADAM."  206 

world,  and  the  writers  merely  mentioned  them  as  a 
sect  well  known  as  creating  some  noise  in  the  world. 
Certainly  the  language  used  in  describing  them  is  not 
very  complimentary.  They  may  have  referred  to  the 
Essenes,  who  had  their  ideal  Chrest. 

A  modern  writer  has  shown  that  the  story  of  the 
persecution  of  Christians  by  the  emperor  Nero  (a.  d. 
54-68)  is  a  modern  fabrication.  Robert  Taylor,  in 
his  Diegesis,  published  in  1829,  proved  that  Cornelius 
Tacitus  never  could  have  written  the  passage  describing 
such  persecution.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the 
whole  of  the  so-called  Annals  of  Tacitus,  containing 
the  celebrated  passage,  was  forged  by  a  Papal  secretary 
named  Poggio  Bracciolini.  In  1422,  while  in  the  re- 
ceipt of  a  small  salary  under  Martin  V.,  he  was  tempt- 
ed by  an  offer  of  five  hundred  sequins  (which  would 
now  be  equal  to  fifty  thousand  dollars)  to  engage  in 
some  mysterious  literary  work.  Seven  years  later,  six 
books  of  what  are  now  called  the  Annals  of  Tacitus 
were  brought  to  him  by  a  monk  from  Saxony.  Then 
all  Christendom  rejoiced  to  learn  that  the  heathen  Ta- 
citus had  mentioned  Christ  crucified  under  Pontius 
Pilate.  Poggio,  though  a  father  both  spiritually  and 
carnally,  was  not  a  husband  till  the  age  of  fifty-four. 
At  seventy-two  he  accepted  the  office  of  secretary  to 
the  republic  of  Florence,  and  at  seventy-nine  he  died, 
leaving  five  sons  of  his  old  age.  Up  to  the  last  he  was 
a  busy  student  and  writer.  Fifty-six  years  after  his 
death  his  fourth  son  was  secretary  to  Pope  Leo  X.,  at 
which  time  the  pope's  steward,  stimulated  by  a  munif- 


206  SKELETON  KEYS. 

icent  reward,  discovered  the  first  six  incomplete  books 
of  the  Annals,  being  the  unfinished  work  of  Poggio  in 
his  old  age. 

The  finding  of  ancient  MSS.  was  a  very  lucrative 
business  for  scholai-s  in  those  days.  It  began  with 
Petrarch,  who  died  in  1374,  and  did  not  end  with 
Poggio,  who  died  in  1459.  Poggio  discovered  several 
orations  of  Cicero,  a  history  by  Ammianus  Marcel- 
linus,  and  several  other  classic  works,  besides  the 
unclassic  writings  of  TertuUian,  the  first  Latin  Father. 

The  modern  fabrication  of  many  of  the  ancient  Latin 
and  Greek  MSS.  is  now  becoming  apparent.  Jean 
Hardouin,  a  French  Jesuit,  died  in  1729,  aged  eighty- 
three  years.  He  was  deeply  versed  in  history,  lan- 
guage, and  numismatology.  At  the  age  of  forty-four 
he  began  to  suspect  that  certain  writings  of  the  Chris- 
tian Fathers  were  spurious,  and  soon  became  convinced 
that  none  of  them  were  genuine.  Then  turning  his 
attention  to  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  he  found 
evidence  sufficient  to  convince  him  that  most  of  those 
also  were  forgeries,  being  fabricated  by  the  Benedictine 
monks  after  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

Eusebius's  Ecclesiastical  History,  first  found  in  Latin 
in  the  fifteenth  century  and  then  in  Greek  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  we  have  no  doubt  is  a  probable  forgery. 
And  if  so  we  have  really  no  history  of  the  primitive 
Church  except  what  may  be  found  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  a  few  uncertain  fragments  of  apocryphal 
literature,  all  much  corrupted. 

The  use  of  the  word  Christus  and  Christianus  by  the 


SEARCH  FOR  THE  "LAST  ADAM."  207 

Latin  writers  is  sufficient  evidence  of  modern  fabrica- 
tion. Ains worth's  Latin  Dictionary  has  not  the  word 
Christus  nor  Christianus  in  the  Latin  part,  but  in  the 
part  which  gives  the  Latin  equivalents  of  English 
words  we  find  this  : 

A  Christian,  *  ||  Christianus. 

Chkistianism  or  Christianity,    *  ||  Christianismus. 
Christmas,  *  ||  Christianatalium  festum. 

What  do  these  asterisks  mean?  Let  Ainsworth 
answer : 

*  Before  a  word  shows  it  to  be  of  Greek  extraction. 
II  Before  a  word  denotes  that  it  is  bad,  or  used  only  by 
writers  of  an  inferior  class. 

Now,  the  words  Christus  and  Christianus  are  used 
by  Tacitus,  Suetonius,  Pliny  (the  younger),  Tertullian, 
and  all  the  succeeding  Latin  Fathers. 

Christos  in  Greek  is  a  very  proper  word,  being  a 
translation  of  the  Hebrew  mashiach,  meaning  "  anoint- 
ed." Therefore,  the  Latins  would  have  rendered  it 
unctus. 

But  the  Benedictine  monks  who  forged  the  literature 
of  the  pretended  Fathers,  instead  of  translating  chnstos, 
audaciously  transferred  the  word,  and  thus  the  new 
word  Christum,  with  a  capital  C,  became  an  additional 
name  for  the  man-god  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Now,  we  respectfully  raise  the  query  whether  it  is 
rational  to  suppose  that  such  wonderful  things  occurred 
in  the  little  province  of  Palestine,  surrounded  by  learn- 
ed sages  and  philosophers  of  the  most  enlightened  na- 


208  SKELETON  KEYS. 

tions  of  the  world,  and  not  one  direct  and  intelligent 
reference  should  have  been  made  to  them  ?  Is  it  not 
strange  that  we  have  no  account  of  the  birth,  sayings, 
and  doings  of  this  "  last  Adam,"  who  is  said  to  have 
come  into  this  world  on  the  most  important  mission, 
and  yet  we  hear  nothing  of  him  except  in  four  or  five 
little  anonymous  and  dateless  pamphlets  written  a  long 
while  after  the  events  are  said  to  have  transpired? 
Since  the  New  Testament  contains  all  that  has  been 
written  on  this  subject,  is  it  not  our  highest  duty  to 
subject  this  book  to  the  most  thorough  examination  ? 
This  we  shall  now  proceed  to  do  in  the  most  fearless 
manner,  however  startling  the  conclusions  which  may 
be  reached. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WHAT  IS  KNOWN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

"  Searcli  the  scriptures ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal 
life ;  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me." — John  5  :  39. 

We  of  course  use  the  above  passage  as  a  motto,  as 
the  writer  must  have  referred  to  the  Old-Testament 
Scriptures,  as  the  New  Testament  was  not  yet  in  exist- 
ence. As  this  book  is  the  sole  dependence  in  finding 
evidence  regarding  Jesus,  we  naturally  first  inquire  as 
to  what  is  known  of  it.  We  find  this  volume  to  be 
made  up  of  twenty-seven  small  tracts  or  pamphlets,  fas- 
tened together  for  the  sake  of  convenience. 

(1)  We  have  four  sketches,  purporting  to  be  brief 
biographies  of  Jesus. 

(2)  Next  we  have  a  condensed  history,  called  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

(3)  Then  we  have  twenty-one  writings  or  letters  ad- 
dressed to  different  churches  or  individuals  in  the  epis- 
tolary form  of  communication. 

(4)  And  finally  we  have  a  highly-vrrought  allegory, 
partaking  somewhat  of  the  form  of  both  history  and 
prophecy.    * 

We  find  that  this  volume  of  little  pamphlets  is  call- 
ed the  "  Authorized  Version  "  of  the  New  Testament. 

14  209 


210  SKELETON  KEYS. 

We  inquire  who  authorized  this  version,  and  find  that 
it  was  gotten  up  by  certain  men,  mainly  Englishmen, 
in  the  year  1603  by  the  "  special  command  "  of  James, 
who  is  called  "  king  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
Ireland,"  and  who  was  addressed  by  these  gentlemen, 
mostly  clergymen,  as  "the  Most  High  and  Mighty 
Prince,  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  etc. 

It  now  becomes  a  matter  of  superlative  importance 
to  determine  the  basis  upon  which  this  version  of  the 
New  Testament  was  made.     It  is  well  known  that  in 
1881  a  New  Version  was  published,  and  Rev.  Alex- 
ander Eoberts,  D.  D.,  a  member  of  the  committee  of 
revisers,  issued    a  little   book   entitled   Companion  to 
the  Revised  Version,  to  be  circulated  with  it.      This 
is  the  latest  and  highest  authority  by  which  to  settle 
the  question  of  the  boMS  or  standard  of  our  "  Author- 
ized Version"  of  the  New  Testament.     It  is  stated 
on  its  title-page  that   it   is  "Translated   out  of  the 
Original  Greek ;"    and  it  is  safe  and  fair  to  let  Dr. 
Roberts,  the  mouthpiece  of  the  New  Version  Com- 
mittee,  tell   us   upon   what    Greek   manuscripts  this 
version  of  King  James  was  based.     After  giving  a 
history  of  the  different  Greek   editions   of  the  New 
Testament  (the  first  of  which  was  completed  in  1514, 
and  its  publication  formally  sanctioned  by  Pope  Leo 
X.  in   1520),  he  inquires,  "  Which  of  the  foregoing 
Greek  texts  formed  the  original  from  which  our  com- 
mon English  translation  was  derived  ?"      "  To   this 
question  the  answer  is,  that  Beza's  edition  of  1589  was 
the  one  usually  followed."     Beza's  edition  was  based 


WHA T  IS  KNO  WN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.     21 1 

on  Stevens'  edition  of  1550,  and  that  was  derived  from 
the  fourth  edition  of  Erasmus,  published  in  1527. 
Beza,  Stevens,  Erasmus !  In  reference  to  the  edition 
of  Erasmus  he  said  himself,  "  It  was  rather  tumbled 
headlong  into  the  world  than  edited."  But  the  ques- 
tion now  comes  up,  What  was  the  basis  of  the  edition 
of  Erasmus  ?  Dr.  Roberts  shall  answer :  "  In  the 
Gospels  he  principally  used  a  cursive  MS.  of  the  fif- 
teenth or  sixteenth  century,"  .  .  .  "admitted  by  all 
to  be  of  a  very  inferior  character."  ..."  He  procured 
another  MS.  of  the  twelfth  century  or  earlier,  but 
Erasmus  was  ignorant  of  its  value  and  made  little  use 
of  it."  ..."  In  the  Acts  and  Epistles  he  chiefly  fol- 
lowed a  cursive  MS.  of  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth 
century,  with  occasional  reference  to  another  of  the 
fifteenth  century."  ..."  For  the  Apocalypse  he  had 
only  one  mutilated  MS."  Dr.  Roberts  adds :  "  He 
had  no  documentary  materials  for  publishing  a  com- 
plete edition  of  the  Greek  Testament." 

The  point  we  here  raise  is,  that  it  is  an  admission 
made  by  the  best  orthodox  authority  that  our  "Avr- 
thorized  New  Testament"  was  formed  out  of  MSS. 
dating  no  farther  back  than  the  twelfth,  thirteenth, 
fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  centuries,  and  that 
even  these  were  hastily  and  unskilfully  used  or  not 
used  at  all. 

But  the  question  naturally  arises.  Have  not  earlier 
MSS.  come  to  light,  substantially  confirming  what  we 
have  in  King  James'  Version  ?  The  answer  is,  that 
there  are  now  in  existence  about  two  thousand  MSS. 


212  SKELETON  KEYS. 

containing  paj'ts  of  the  New  Testament,  with  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  variations,  mostly  trivial, 
but  some  very  impoiiant ;  but  no  scholar,  orthodox  or 
liberal,  will  dare  to  pretend  that  any  of  these  date  any 
farther  back  than  the  fourth  or  fifth  century ;  and  he 
would  be  a  reckless  man,  feeling  bound  to  lie  for  what 
he  might  regard  as  the  truth,  who  would  contradict  the 
admission  of  Dr.  Roberts,  that  there  are  only  five  copies 
of  the  New  Testament,  at  all  complete,  of  a  greater 
antiquity  than  the  tenth  century,  nor  who  would  dare 
to  question  the  statement  of  the  Rev.  George  E.  Mer- 
rell  in  his  recent  Story  of  the  Manuscripts,  that  "  there 
is  a  wide  gap  of  almost  three  centuries  between  the  orig- 
inal manuscripts  of  the  evangelists  and  apostles  and  the 
earliest  copies  of  their  writings  which  have  yet  been 
discovered.^'  Whether  there  ever  were  original  man- 
uscripts or  accfarate  copies  are  questions  which  it  would 
be  prudent  to  hold  for  consideration  until  we  have 
made  further  investigations.  When  we  reverently  listen 
to  our  ministers  as  they  expound  the  Word,  and  learn- 
edly tell  us  how  certain  sentences  should  have  been 
translated  from  the  "  original  Greek,"  let  us  not  laugh 
in  their  faces,  but  respectfully  ask  them  whether  they 
do  not  know  that  there  is  no  original  Greek  Testament 
or  any  certified  copy,  and  that  all  we  know  upon  these 
matters  is  highly  conjectural  and  wholly  unauthenti- 
cated. 

The  principal  MSS.  of  the  New  Testament  were  un- 
known for  a  thousand  years  after  the  Christian  era — 
to  wit,  those   from   which   our   "Authorized"   New 


WHAT  IS  KNOWN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.     213 

Testament  Was  compiled — and  their  real  origin  cannot 
be  traced,  and  even  their  accepted  date  is  purely  a 
matter  of  conjecture.  The  Alexandrian,  Vatican,  and 
Sinaitic  MSS.,  supposed  to  date  from  the  fourth  and 
fifth  centuries,  are  of  uncertain  and  suspicious  origin, 
and  their  date  is  a  matter  of  simple  guess  by  parties 
whose  prepossessions  would  incline  them  to  make  them 
as  ancient  as  possible.  How  easy  it  is  for  the  best 
scholars  to  be  imposed  upon  is  shown  from  the  fact 
that  the  experts  of  the  British  Museum  would  prob- 
ably have  been  swindled  by  the  recent  Syrian  forgery 
of  the  very  ancient  book  of  Deuteronomy  but  for  the 
discovery  of  the  fact  by  a  French  scholar  that  the 
"  ancient  document "  was  in  fact  only  a  year  or  two 
old,  the  product  of  a  skilled  copyist !  The  fact  is, 
little  or  nothing  is  actually  knovm  by  historical  and 
documentary  verification  of  the  origin  or  dates  of  the 
MSS.  upon  which  our  New  Testament  is  based. 

The  next  question  that  arises  in  a  rational  mind  in  this 
connection  is  this  :  Have  we  in  these  twenty-seven  little 
pamphlets  all  that  has  been  written  upon  the  subjects 
to  which  they  relate  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  is 
very  embarrassing.  It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  the 
ecclesiastical  council  that  selected  the  books  composing 
the  New  Testament  had  at  least  fifty  Gospels,  from 
which  they  selected /our,  and  more  than  one  hundred 
Epistles,  from  which  they  selected  seventeen,  and  that 
from  nearly  a  score  of  books  professing  to  be  records 
of  the  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles  "  they  selected  one,  which 
Chrysostom  in  the  fifth  century  says  "  was  not  so  much 


214  SKELETON  KEYS. 

as  known  to  many."  Then  there  oxe  forty-one  New- 
Testament  books  now  extant,  called  apocryphal,  re- 
lating to  the  teachings  of  Jesus  and  the  apostles,  and 
besides  the  canonical  and  apocryphal  books  extant 
there  are  sixty-eight  New-Testament  books  mentioned 
by  the  Christian  Fathers  of  the  first  four  centuries 
which  are  not  now  known  to  be  in  existence.  Besides 
these,  more  than  fifty  books,  written  in  the  second  cen- 
tury by  more  than  twenty  distinguished  persons,  have 
mysteriously  disappeared.  The  fact  should  also  be 
emphasized  that  the  adoption  of  the  New-Testament 
books  in  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century,  as  we 
now  substantially  have  them,  was  followed  by  the 
disappearance  and  probable  destruction  of  all  books 
that  could  throw  light  upon  the  books  received,  and 
all  the  supposed  copies  of  our  Gospels  to  that  period 
have  been  lost  or  destroyed.  The  fact  to  be  kept  in 
mind  is  this,  that  the  New-Testament  books  which  we 
now  have  were  selected  from  scores  and  hundreds  of 
writings  claiming  equal  authority  by  a  few  self-appoint- 
ed men,  who  had  very  few  qualifications  and  many 
disqualifications  for  the  work  they  undertook  for  all 
coming  generations.  We  have  but  a  trifling  proportion 
in  number  of  the  ancient  records  regarding  Jesus. 

But  we  now  take  up  the  little  pamphlets  as  we  have 
them,  and  try  to  arrange  them  in  order  of  time.  The 
oldest  writings  of  the  New  Testament  are  the  Epistles 
of  Paul.  And  here  we  find  ourselves  embarrassed  by 
the  fact  that  biblical  criticism  shows  that  not  more  than 
five — some  s&y  four — of  the  Epistles  ascribed  to  Paul 


WHA T  IS  KNO  WN  OF  THE  NE  W  TESTAMENT.     215 

were  written  by  him — viz.  First  Thessalonians,  Gala- 
tians,  First  Corinthians,  Second  Corinthians,  and  Ro- 
mans. The  other  nine  ascribed  to  Paul  were  doubtless 
written  by  unknown  second-century  authors.  The 
same  uncertainty  prevails  in  regard  to  the  authorship 
of  several,  if  not  all,  of  what  are  called  the  General  or 
Catholic  Epistles,  as  well  as  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
and  the  book  of  Revelation. 

It  is  impossible  to  fix  the  dates  of  the  New-Testa- 
ment books  except  approximately.  There  is  a  great 
diversity  of  opinion.  The  earliest  were  probably  writ- 
ten in  the  last  half  of  the  first  century,  and  the  latest 
certainly  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  century. 
Certain  it  is  that  no  evidence  can  be  found  of  the  ex- 
istence of  our  four  Gospels  until  the  latter  part  of  the 
second  century,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after 
the  alleged  death  of  Jesus.  It  is  therefore  true  what 
Prof.  Robertson  Smith,  D.  D.,  the  learned  Scotch  Pres- 
byterian minister,  asserts,  that  our  four  Gospels  are 
"  unapostolic  digests  of  the  second  century."  From 
the  Apostolic  Epistles  we  learn  nothing  of  the  life  and 
teachings  of  Jesus.  With  Paul,  Christ  was  an  idea 
rather  than  a  person.  Not  a  syllable  do  we  find  in  his 
writings  of  the  miraculous  birth  of  Jesus,  no  reference 
to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  much  less  to  the  miracles 
ascribed  to  him.  He  rather  boasted  that  he  had  learn- 
ed nothing  of  him  from  his  disciples,  but  what  he 
knew  he  had  received  at  the  time  of  his  own  mirac- 
ulous conversion.  He  dwells  upon  the  death  and 
spiritual  resurrection  of  Jesus,  not  upon  his  life ;  and 


216  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  only  words  of  Jesus  quoted  by  Paul,  "  it  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive,"  are  not  found  at  all 
in  the  Gospels.  All  that  Paul  ever  claimed  to  know 
about  Jesus  as  a  person  he  learned  in  a  vision,  and  it 
is  to  be  taken  for  what  it  is  worth. 

We  are  absolutely  driven  to  the  Gospels  for  informa- 
tion regarding  the  alleged  founder  of  Christianity,  his 
birth,  his  life,  his  teachings,  and  his  death.  And  here 
the  fact  should  be  faced  that  Jesus  never  wrote  any- 
thing about  himself,  his  mission,  or  his  doctrines.  We 
should  not  even  know  that  he  had  learned  the  art  of 
writing  but  for  the  incident  mentioned  in  one  of  the 
Gospels  (John  8  :  6)  that  on  a  certain  occasion  he 
stooped  down  and  wrote  in  the  sand ;  and  now  our 
learned  New  Versionists  come  along  and  snatch  this 
from  us  by  declaring  that  the  beautiful  story  about  the 
kind  treatment  of  the  woman  taken  in  adultery  is  an 
interpolation  not  found  in  the  best  early  MSS.,  so  that 
we  are  not  even  sure  that  Jesus  wrote  anything  even 
with  his  finger  in  the  sand,  or  that  he  even  knew  how 
to  write !  Nobody  pretends  that  Jesus  ever  directed 
his  disciples  or  any  one  else  to  write  down  what  he 
said  and  did,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  often  forbade 
his  disciples  to  tell  what  he  said  and  did ;  and  much 
of  what  he  is  reported  to  have  said  was  so  obscure  that 
the  disciples  themselves  continually  misunderstood 
him.  Two  reasons  have  been  assigned  for  this  omis- 
sion of  Jesus  to  write  himself  or  to  commission  others 
to  write  down  his  sayings.  The  first  is,  that  he  said 
nothing  which  could  not  be  found  in  then  existing 


WHAT  IS  KNOWN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.     217 

writings  (as  can  easily  be  shown),  and  the  second  is, 
that  he  was  so  sure  that  the  world  was  about  to  be 
destroyed,  and  that  his  own  kingdom  would  so  soon 
be  set  up  and  established  upon  the  general  ruin,  that  it 
was  useless  to  write  down  what  was  said  and  done  in 
the  short  remaining  period  of  mundane  history. 

We  have  four  brief  sketches  claiming  to  be  biog- 
raphies of  Jesus,  which  the  Church  claims  as  authen- 
tic, from  which  we  must  draw  all  our  information 
regarding  Jesus. 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  assign  the  reasons  of 
learned  critics  for  their  conclusion  that  the  Gospel 
"  according  to  "  Mark  is  the  older  of  the  four.  But 
it  is  worthy  of  note  that  there  is  not  in  it  one  word  of 
the  miraculous  conception  stm'y,  and  not  a  hint  of  the 
bodily  resurrection  and  ascension  of  Jesus,  as  the  critics 
have  a  way  of  proving  that  the  last  chapter  of  Mark 
was  added  by  a  later  hand. 

Then  we  are  embarrassed  by  the  testimony  of  Irenseus, 
Origen,  Jerome,  and  other  Christian  Fathers  that  the 
Gospel  of  Matthew  was  written  in  Hebrew,  while  there 
are  indubitable  internal  evidences  that  this  Gospel,  as 
we  have  it,  was  written  in  Greek  and  by  a  Greek,  and 
not  a  Jew,  and  that  it  is  really  a  theological  treatise 
written  by  some  partisan  for  ecclesiastical  reasons,  and 
that  if  Matthew  ever  wrote  a  Gospel,  it  has  been  un- 
fortunately lost  or  purposely  destroyed.  An  early 
Christian  sect,  called  in  derision  Ebionites,  are  sup- 
posed to  have  had  the  Hebrew  Gospel  of  Matthew, 
and  they  were  persecuted  and  stamped  out  for  denying 


218  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  miraculous  conception  and  divinity  of  Christ,  and 
with  them,  some  critics  suppose,  perished  the  only 
genuine  Gospel  of  Matthew.  There  is  little  if  any 
doubt  that  the  first  and  second  chapters  of  our  Matthew, 
giving  an  account  of  the  miraculous  birth  and  genealogy 
of  Jesus,  were  added  when  this  fiction  was  incorporated 
into  Christianity  as  necessary  to  a  divine  Church  estab- 
lishment which  should  almost  deify  a  hierarchy  and 
bring  the  common  people  into  subjection.  In  read- 
ing Matthew's  Gospel  we  should  undoubtedly  begin 
at  chapter  3,  and  especially  as  the  first  two  chapters 
are  absurd,  contradictory,  and  inconsistent.  If  Jesus 
was  begotten  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  was  not  consistent 
or  necessary  to  notice  the  genealogy  of  Joseph,  and 
there  is  nothing  more  bungling  than  the  genealogies 
of  Mary  and  Joseph  as  given  in  Matthew  and  Luke. 
Indeed,  the  name  Matthew  is  not  Jewish,  and  there 
are  those  who  doubt  if  there  ever  was  such  a  man.  It 
is  a  suggestive  fact  that  the  Egyptians  had  a  Maiihu, 
and  that  he  was  the  registrar,  or  keeper  of  their  records. 
The  Gospel  ascribed  to  Luke  he  himself  admits  to 
be  a  resum^  or  compilation  of  what  had  been  written  by 
others  and  was  the  prevalent  belief  (Luke,  chapter  1). 
In  making  a  close  analysis  of  this  little  tract  a  learned 
German  critic  Schleiermacher,  shows  that  it  was  prob- 
ably compiled  from  thirty-three  different  manuscripts. 
But  since  Luke  himself  claims  nothing  more  than  the 
office  of  a  collector,  his  work  is  a  mere  digest  of  what 
others  had  written  and  a  summary  of  what  was  then 
believed  by  some  persons. 


WHA T  IS  KNO  WN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.     21 9 

The  Gospel  according  to  John  deserves  a  more  care- 
ful and  extended  notice,  from  the  fact  that  it  differs  in 
so  many  particulars  from  the  other  three  Gospels. 
There  is  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  this  writing 
until  A.  D.  175,  when  it  was  mentioned  in  the  Clem- 
entine Homilies,*  and  in  176,  Theophilus  of  Antioch 
ascribed  its  authorship  to  John.  But  nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that  John  the  Evangelist  did  not  write 
this  little  book,  as  it  contains  internal  evidence  of  its 
Grecian  origin,  and  that  it  could  not  have  been  written 
by  one  familiar  with  Judaism  and  the  geography  of 
Palestine.  Many  of  the  best  biblical  scholars,  ortho- 
dox and  rationalistic,  admit  this  fact,  and  our  Meth- 
odist friends  may  amuse  themselves  at  their  leisure  in 
reading  a  learned  note  from  the  pen  of  their  great  com- 
mentator. Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  at  the  close  of  his  exposi- 
tion of  the  first  chapter  of  John,  in  which  he  points 
out  thirty-five  parallels  between  the  writings  of  Philo 
the  learned  Platonist  and  the  Gospel  of  John,  unwit- 
tingly showing  that  it  must  have  been  written  by  an 
Alexandrian  Greek. 

And  right  here  it  is  proper  to  expose  an  ancient 
fraud  perpetuated  in  the  Church  to  the  present  day — to 
wit,  that  Papius  and  Polycarp,  early  Christian  writers, 
were  personally  acquainted  with  and  instructed  by  John, 
and  that  therefore  a  succession  was  established  with  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  himself,  whose  personal  disciple  John 
was.  This  story  was  originated  by  Irenseus,  and  the 
fraud  consists  in  confounding  John  the  son  of  Zebedee 
and  Salome  with  one  John  who  was  said  to  be  a  pres- 
*  These  were  spurioiis. 


220  SKELETON  KEYS. 

byter  in  Asia  Minor.  This  ingenious  device  is  clearly 
exposed  by  Reber  in  his  work — The  Enigmas  of  Chris- 
tianity. Irenseus,  bishop  of  Lyons,  may  be  called  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  papal  hierarchy,  as  he  in  the 
second  century  attempted,  but  miserably  failed,  to 
furnish  a  catalogue  of  bishops  in  orderly  succession 
from  the  apostles ;  and  soon  after  he  was  followed  in 
the  same  vain  attempt  by  Tertullian,  who  first  claimed 
supremacy  for  the  bishop  of  Rome,  calling  him  "  epis- 
copus  episeoporum,"  a  bishop  of  bishops.  The  fact  is, 
it  is  not  known  who  wrote  the  fourth  Gospel,  but  it  is 
certain  that  it  was  not  written  by  the  humble,  amiable 
Galilean  fisherman,  but  by  a  learned  neo-Platonist, 
who  was  familiar  with  the  dialectics  of  the  learned  Gnos- 
tic philosophers,  and  who  desired  most  earnestly  their 
complete  suppression  as  essential  to  the  success  of  the 
fixed  purpose  of  priests  to  establish  a  Church,  under 
an  alleged  divine  commission,  in  which  they  were  to 
be  the  kings  and  princes.  Priests  have  always"  been 
the  corruptere  and  perverters  of  truth  for  their  own 
aggrandizement,  and  the  Grecian  treatise  palmed  upon 
the  Church  as  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  is  one  of  the 
most  illustrious  examples.  But  for  this  so-called 
"  Gospel "  the  existence  of  the  papal  hierarchy,  and  the 
consequent  priestly  pretensions  in  Protestant  churches, 
would  have  been  impossible.  Enough  has  been  pre- 
sented to  show  that  we  have  no  alternative  but  to 
depend  upon  the  synoptical  Gospels,  credited  to  Mat- 
thew, Mark,  and  Luke,  in  our  inquiry  as  to  Jesus. 
Now  let  us  see  just  where  we  stand  as  to  the  sources 


WHA  T  IS  KNO WN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.     221 

of  information  to  which  we  are  to  look  in  learning 
whom  Jesus  was. 

1.  We  are  restricted  to  four,  if  not  three,  short  biog- 
raphies, accredited  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John, 
only  two  of  whom,  Matthew  and  John,  were  mentioned 
among  the  disciples  "of  Jesus. 

2.  That  these  sketches  were  written  by  those  whose 
names  they  bear  is  not  supported  by  a  particle  of  proof, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  strong  evidence  that 
they  were  not  written  by  the  persons  to  whom  they  are 
credited ;  and  this  is  especially  true  in  regard  to  Mat- 
thew and  John.  Strictly  speaking,  our  Gospels  are 
anonymous. 

3.  These  documents  are  without  date,  both  as  to  the 
time  in  which  they  are  written  and  the  place  of  writing, 
and  there  is  no  proof  of  their  existence  until  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  alleged 
occurrence  of  the  things  recorded. 

4.  That  these  four  Gospels  were  selected  from  many 
other  writings  most  of  which  have  been  lost  or  de- 
stroyed. 

5.  That  the  men  who  made  our  four  Gospels  canon- 
ical, and  rejected  all  the  rest,  were  for  the  most  pari 
narrow,  bigoted  partisans,  and  had  good  reasons  of  a 
selfish  nature  to  reject  whatever  did  not  favor  their 
ambitious  designs. 

6.  We  have  no  proof  that  the  four  Gospels  made 
canonical  by  the  early  ecclesiastical  councils  were  the 
original  writings  of  the  evangelists,  even  if  we  were 
sure  that  they  wrote  anything,  nor  have  we  any  proof 


222  SKELETON  KEYS. 

that  the  copies  adopted  were  genuine  and  authentic  and 
the  best  then  extant. 

7.  We  have  no  proof  that  the  copies  we  have  are 
accurate  copies  of  the  ones  adopted  by  the  councils,  but 
we  have  proof  positive,  admitted  by  the  New  Version- 
ists  of  1881,  that  they  contain  many  interpolations  and 
additions  and  many  evidences  of  forgeries  and  alterations 
by  the  ignorant,  designing,  and  selfish  ecclesiastics  of 
the  mediaeval  centuries  known  as  the  Dark  Ages. 

8.  That  the  Authorized  Version  read  in  the  churches 
and  in  our  families  is  based  upon  MSS.  dating  from 
the  twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  century,  and  that  only 
fragmentary  MSS.  and  unauthenticated  copies  are  now 
in  existence,  dating  from  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth 
centuries. 

9.  That  the  copies  we  have  bound  up  in  our  New 
Testament  contradict  themselves  and  one  another  in  a 
great  many  particulars,  and  contain  many  statements 
which  are  geographically,  historically,  and  philosoph- 
ically absurd  and  incredible. 

10.  That,  therefore,  our  Gospels  are  of  uncertain 
authority  and  of  undoubted  human  origin,  and  are  to 
be  so  regarded  without  a  doubt. 

Now,  it  will  be  said  that  this  is  an  infidel  attack 
upon  the  New  Testament,  and  that  it  tends  to  the 
overthrow  of  the  only  religion  that  can  do  the  world 
any  good.  And  yet,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  these 
facts  are  presented  in  the  best  interests  of  true  religion 
— ^presented  because  they  are  true,  and  therefore  best 


WHA  T  IS  KNO  WN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.     223 

adapted,  nay  absolutely  essential,  to  the  successful 
defense  and  propagation  of  virtue  and  morality. 

The  real  infidels  of  the  day  are  the  theological  liars 
and  pretenders  who  are  wilfully  ignorant,  or  too  dishon- 
est and  cowardly  to  publish  what  they  know.  Infidelity 
is  breach  of  trust,  disloyalty  to  truth.  He  who  would 
do  the  most  good  must  tell  the  whole  truth.  If  we 
regard  the  Gospels  as  simple  compilations  from  earlier 
documents  and  traditions,  with  occasional  additions 
and  alterations  to  meet  occasions  and  times,  we  shall 
find  in  them  very  many  things  to  admire  and  to  adopt 
into  our  problems  of  life  and  systems  of  morals,  many 
things  worthy  of  imitation,  many  things  to  give  courage 
and  comfort  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  many  things 
which  would  be  just  as  true  and  just  as  useful  if  they 
had  only  been  written  yesterday  by  some  one  whom  we 
have  known  from  our  childhood. 

Regarding  the  Gospels  as  human,  we  can  excuse 
their  absurdities  and  errors,  and  while  we  cast  these 
errors  aside  we  joyfully  accept  what  is  true  and  good 
and  beautiful ;  but  by  claiming  for  them  what  they 
are  not  we  bring  even  what  is  true  into  disrepute. 

It  was  a  master-stroke  of  worldly  wisdom  and  policy 
when  Irenaeus  in  the  second  century  (who  first  mention- 
ed our  four  Gospels)  sanctioned  the  monstrous  assump- 
tion of  all  ecclesiastical  authority  by  divine  right  by 
the  bishops  and  priests,  which  power  soon  became 
centralized  at  Rome ;  but  it  was  the  greatest  misfor- 
tune of  the  ages  for  the  cause  of  true  religion  and 
sound  morality.     It  not  only  made  the  Church  of 


224  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Rome  with  its  immense  machinery  a  necessary  result, 
but  it  made  the  not  less  false  systems  of  Protestant 
dogmatic  theology  possible.  There  is  no  use  in  at- 
tempting to  disguise  the  fact  that  the  so-called  scheme 
of  redemption  is  in  principle  and  substance  the  same  in 
the  Catholic  and  orthodox  Protestant  Churches.  Many 
intelligent  persons  feel  that  they  would  as  soon  belong 
to  one  as  the  other,  while  they  secretly  regard  the  Ro- 
manists as  logically  the  more  consistent. 

The  Romanists  are  strong  in  that  they  place  the 
Church  ^rsf  (jure  divino)  and  make  the  scriptures  the 
product  of  the  Church,  and  of  course  subject  to  its  in- 
terpretation. Protestants  are  weak  in  that  they  make 
the  Church  subject  to  written  scriptures,  which  wgre 
selected  by  the  founders  of  Catholicism,  and  then  for 
centuries  altered,  forged,  interpolated,  and  manipulated 
by  popes  and  priests  to  strengthen  their  authority  and 
secure  the  absolute  submission  of  the  people. 

The  one  fatal  blunder  of  the  Protestant  Reformers 
was  to  found  their  system  of  theology  upon  a  written 
book  of  the  origin  of  which  so  little  is  known,  and  yet 
regarding  which  so  much  is  known  that  it  is  impossible 
for  persons  of  a  rational,  judicial  mind  to  accept  it  as 
an  infallible  supernatural  revelation. 

The  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  in  the  absence  of 
everything  that,  by  even  a  strain  of  language,  can  be 
called  evidence  as  to  the  genuineness  and  authenticity 
of  our  Gospels  we  cannot  safely  accept  them  as  an  in- 
fallible authority  in  religious  matters.  We  have  a 
right  to  examine  them  critically,  just  as  we  would  read 


WHA T  IS  KNO  WN  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.     225 

and  study  any  other  ancient  writings  of  uncertain  au- 
thorship and  date. 

The  Reformation  was  in  part  the  substitution  of  a 
book  which  was  pronounced  infallible,  but  which  has 
proved  to  be  very  fallible,  for  a  Church  which  claimed 
infallibility,  but  which  had  shown  itself  not  only  very 
fallible,  but  exceedingly  corrupt  and  dangerous.  In- 
fallibility belongs  to  neither  men  nor  books.  Infal- 
libility in  books  is  an  absurdity.  A  religion  founded 
upon  a  printed  book  must  submit  to  examination  of 
both  the  origin  and  character  of  that  book,  and  must 
shoulder  the  imperfections  and  errors  which  the  dis- 
coveries of  modern  research  have  fully  exposed.  The 
principles  of  true  religion  inherent  in  human  nature,  an 
ineradicable  constituent  of  the  constitution  of  man,  as 
has  been  shown,  are  to-day  obscured  and  shackled  by 
the  false  position  in  which  its  professed  friends  have 
placed  it.  It  will  be  shown  before  these  papers  are 
concluded  that  a  religion  manacled  by  a  printed  book 
claiming  infallibility,  and  made  to  depend  solely  upon 
an  historical  character  who,  if  admitted  to  be  historical, 
wrote  nothing  himself  and  commissioned  no  one  to 
write  anything  for  him,  and  of  whose  verbal  teachings 
and  actual  mode  of  life  we  can  never  be  sure, — a  re- 
ligion thus  encumbered  must  suffer  great  loss,  if  not 
total  failure,  as  men  shall  progress  in  knowledge  and 
science  shall  uncover  the  past  and  demonstrate  the 
absurdities  of  the  superstitious  dogmas  of  the  ancient 
faiths.  It  is  impossible  to  compress  the  largest  brains 
of  the  nineteenth  century  into  the  smallest  skulls  of  the 

15 


226  SKELETON  KEYS. 

twelfth  century.  The  true  friend  of  religion  is  the 
fearless  man  who  dares  attempt  to  rescue  it  from  the 
accretions  and  pervei-sions  of  the  Dark  Ages,  and  to 
establish  its  eternal  principles  of  truth  and  righteousness 
in  the  very  nature  of  man,  in  the  elevation  of  moral 
character,  in  strict  agreement  with  the  demonstrated 
facts  of  the  present,  as  opposed  to  the  bigoted  and 
degrading  fancies  of  the  past.  To  defend  religion  from 
the  follies  of  its  mistaken  champions,  and  show  that  its 
foundations  are  secure  and  its  ultimate  triumph  certain, 
may  now  be  denounced  as  treason  to  the  Church,  but 
in  coming  years  it  will  be  seen  to  have  been  the  work 
of  men  of  whom  the  Church  of  to-day  is  not  worthy. 

The  fact  is,  very  little  is  known  of  the  New  Testament, 
but  too  much  is  well  known  to  receive  it  in  evidence  in 
a  matter  of  so  much  importance.  The  narratives  it 
contains  would  be  ruled  out  of  court  in  any  civilized 
country  on  the  globe.  It  is  evidently  a  huge  compila- 
tion of  what  was  at  best  only  traditions  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  and  even  these  traditions,  mixed 
and  mangled  as  they  are,  mu^t  have  another  and  a 
more  rational  explanation  than  an  histoi^al  or  a  literal 
one.  This  book  cannot  be  an  infallible  divine  revela- 
tion. Let  us  see  whether  we  cannot  find  out  what  was 
really  intended  to  be  taught  by  the  different  writers. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS. 

"Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness."—!  TiM.  3:16.  "We 
speak  the  wisdom  of  God  in  a  mystery." — 1  Cob.  2:7.  "I  speak 
as  to  wise  men ;  judge  ye  what  I  say." — 1  Cob.  10  :  15. 

In  early  times  every  prominent  religious  teacher  had 
his  own  gospel,  as  Paul  asserts  that  he  had  his.  The 
books  that  were  canonized  did  not  by  any  means  shape 
the  belief  of  the  early  Christians,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
their  beliefs  shaped  the  character  of  the  books.  "  The 
question  of  a  '  Catholic  canon/  "  says  Professor  David- 
son, "  was  realized  about  the  same  time  as  the  idea  of 
a  Catholic  Church."  The  partisanship,  low  trickery, 
and  mob  violence  by  which  votes  of  councils  were  ob- 
tained to  establish  ecclesiastical  dogmas,  the  canonicity 
of  Scriptures,  etc.,  were  such  as  now-a-days  character- 
ize a  political  meeting  in  the  slums  of  an  American 
city. 

While,  therefore,  we  quote  the  statements  of  the 
Gospels  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  presentation  of  our 
points  of  argument,  we  do  so  only  for  convenience. 
They  cannot,  by  any  rule  of  sound  criticism,  testimony 
of  contemporary  writers,  or  even  of  spiritual  discern- 
ment, be  accepted  as  historical. 

The  composition  of  the  four  Gospels  indicates  in 

227 


228  SKELETON  KEYS. 

many  ways  that  they  were  originally  collections  of 
religious  stories,  each  of  which  has  a  moral  of  its  own, 
like  the  fables  of  JEsop,  or,  more  properly,  the  narra- 
tives concerning  Buddha  given  in  the  Dhammapada, 
This  was  a  common  mode  of  writing  in  early  times. 
History  and  biography  were  hardly  considered.  Hence 
contradictions  of  verbal  statement  were  not  counted  as 
of  any  importance.  This  is  probably  the  reason  why 
the  transcribers  neglected  to  remove  the  conflicts  of 
statement  and  other  inaccuracies  that  abound  in  the 
Gospels. 

It  is  also  more  than  probable  that  many  parts  of  these 
works  which  have  a  narrative  form  were  later  interpo- 
lations. The  first  two  chapters  of  Matthew  and  the 
first  two  in  the  Gospel  according  to  Luke  are  unequiv- 
ocally of  this  character.  The  style  and  diction  are 
conspicuously  unlike  the  language  of  the  other  parts 
of  those  works,  as  will  appear  on  the  slightest  notice. 

The  oldest  parts  of  the  New  Testament  are  the  Epis- 
tles of  Paul  to  the  Galatians,  Corinthians,  Romans,  and 
Thessalonians.  We  will  do  well,  therefore,  to  study 
them  a  little  while  by  themselves,  without  reference  to 
the  Gospels  and  other  documents,  which  were  of  later 
date.  Paul  asserts  that  he  possessed  and  promulgated 
a  gospel  distinct  and  different  from  others,  and  he  pro- 
nounced an  anathema  on  the  man  or  angel  that  should 
teach  any  different  one.  The  way  that  he  became  pos- 
sessed of  it  he  sets  forth  as  follows :  He  had  no  con- 
ference with  any  human  being  whatsoever  about  the 
matter,  nor  had  he  anything  to  do  with  those  who  were 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  229 

apostles  before  him,  but  he  went  into  Arabia  and  after- 
ward to  Damascus.  A  hint  is  ftimished  by  Josephus 
in  his  history  of  his  own  life  which  throws  some  light 
upon  the  purpose  of  this  sojourn  in  Arabia.  There 
were  members  of  the  Essenean  brotherhood  living  there 
who  were  resorted  to  by  individuals  desiring  instruction 
and  discipline.  Josephus  himself  went  thither  for  that 
purpose.  Paul  evidently  had  a  similar  errand.  He 
had  been  a  Pharisee,  but  had  embraced  another  faith. 

Why  did  he  choose  the  Esseneans  in  preference  to 
the  Judean  apostles?  The  answer  must  be  that  he 
was  more  certain  of  learning  their  tenets  without  adul- 
teration. They  were  famous  for  their  devotion  to 
religious  study,  their  cultivation  of  sacred  literature 
and  the  art  of  prophecy,  for  their  austerity,  industry, 
and  peculiar  social  organization.  We  shall  find  upon 
comparison  that  this  was  very  closely  resembling  what 
is  represented  of  the  first  believers  at  Jerusalem.  They 
had  their  episcopacy,  their  deacons  or  stewards,  their 
Holy  Scriptures,  and  apostles  or  missionaries.  These 
were  numerous  in  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  and  Egypt.  As 
the  Therapeutse  of  the  latter  country  resembled  them, 
even  to  the  signification  of  their  name  (healers,  min- 
isters), the  probability  is  that  the  two  were  nearly  iden- 
tical. Eusebius,  quoting  the  account  of  the  Egyptian 
communes  as  given  by  Philo  the  Jew,  has  remarked 
the  close  similarity  of  their  doctrines  and  customs  with 
those  of  the  apostolic  congregations,  and  declared  that 
they  were  Christians  and  their  writings  the  Gospels. 

This,  however,  is  not  tenable,  at  least  not  tenable  in 


230  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  way  that  he  suggests.  Unfortunately  for  his  state- 
ment, the  Essenean  brothers  existed,  with  all  the  pecu- 
liarities described,  long  before  the  Christian  era.  Jo- 
sephus  treats  of  them  as  flourishing  as  early  as  the  time 
of  Jonathan,  the  first  of  the  Maccabeans  who  held  the 
office  of  high  priest.  About  that  period  the  canon  of 
the  Old  Testament  was  finally  collected.  "Judas 
gathered  together  all  those  things  that  were  lost  by 
reason  of  the  war  we  had  (with  Antiochos  Epiphanes 
and  his  successors),  and  they  remain  with  us"  (2 
Mace.  2  :  14).  The  Maccabees  or  Asmoneans  were 
partisans  of  the  sect  known  as  Asideans  (Chaldeans), 
and  afterward  as  Pharisees  or  Parsees.  At  this  very 
period  we  first  learn  of  the  Sadducees  or  Zadokites, 
who  chiefly  belonged  to  the  hereditary  lineage  of 
Aaron,  and  likewise  of  the  Essenean  fraternity.  These 
last  had  their  own  sacred  books,  and  took  no  part  in 
the  worship  and  sacrifices  of  the  temple.  In  short, 
they  were  regarded  as  a  people  apart.  Their  books, 
we  have  good  reason  to  suppose,  were  different  in  tenor 
from  those  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  it  is  by  no  means 
improbable  that  they  included  the  scriptures  written 
in  Greek  by  the  Alexandrians  and  now  called  the 
Apocrypha. 

The  designation  Minim  may  mean  "  observers  of  the 
heavens,"  and  the  Essenes  appear  to  have  been  such. 
"  Before  sunrising,"  says  Josephus,  "  they  speak  not  a 
word  about  profane  matters,  but  put  up  certain  prayers 
which  they  have  received  from  their  forefathers,  as  if 
they  made  a  supplication  for  its  rising."     This  illus- 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  231 

trates  the  taunt  to  the  Pharisees,  that  they  could  dis- 
cern the  face  of  the  sky  in  regard  to  the  weather,  but 
could  not  read  there  the  signs  or  symbols  of  the  times, 
which  were  also  written  there. 

The  Saddukim  were  doubtless  the  disciples  and  par- 
tisans of  Judas  of  Galilee,  or  Gaulonitis  beyond  Jor- 
dan. This  man  and  his  colleague  Sadduk  began  their 
career  at  the  time  of  the  census  or  enrolment  by  Cyre- 
nius,  which  took  place  after  the  displacing  of  Ardie- 
laus,  the  son  of  Herod  I.,  from  the  throne  of  Judea. 
There  are  many  plausible  reasons  for  identifying  them 
with  the  apostolic  congregation.  They  established  a 
new  religious  or  philosophical  sect,  which  Josephus 
declares  had  a  great  many  followers,  and  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  the  subsequent  miseries  of  the  Jews.  Their 
tenets  agreed  with  those  of  the  Pharisees ;  but,  says 
the  historian,  "  they  have  an  inviolable  attachment  to 
liberty,  and  say  that  God  is  to  be  their  only  Ruler  and 
Lord.  They  do  not  value  any  kinds  of  death,  nor 
indeed  do  they  heed  the  deaths  of  their  relations  and 
friends,  nor  can  any  such  fear  make  them  call  any  man 
lord."  The  Jewish  nation,  Josephus  declares,  was 
infected  with  this  doctrine  to  an  incredible  degree.  It 
is  plain  that  the  books  interdicted  in  the  Talmud  per- 
tained to  the  sect  which  followed  these  teachers,  and 
perhaps  also  to  the  Essenes. 

The  Gospels  show  evidence  of  having  been  compiled 
from  previous  works.  The  one  ascribed  to  Mark  is 
apparently  the  more  original,  being  shorter,  more  con- 
cise, and  exhibiting  fewer  traces  of  having  been  tam- 


232  SKELETON  KEYS. 

pered  with.  The  Gospel  according  to  Matthew  is  from 
the  same  original,  having  whole  sentences  in  exactly 
the  same  words,  but  it  is  amplified  and  more  diffuse. 
Neither  of  these  Gospels  was  recognized  by  Paul,  and 
indeed  there  is  much  reason  to  doubt  whether  he  had  ever 
seen  them.  If  he  recognized  any  evangelic  compilation 
as  genuine,  it  was  the  one  ascribed  to  Luke ;  and  even 
then  the  treatise  must  have  been  rewritten  after  his 
period. 

There  exists  abundant  reason  for  regarding  the  Es- 
senean  worship  as  more  or  less  identical  with  that  of 
Mithras,  the  Persian  "  god  of  heaven."  This  appears 
to  be  sustained  by  a  comparison  of  the  cults.  Thus, 
as  has  been  remarked,  they  permitted  no  discourse  on 
secular  concerns  before  sunrise,  but  chanted  prayers 
like  the  Gathas,  as  in  supplication  to  the  divinity  pre- 
siding over  the  sky.  Their  personal  habits  exhibited 
a  profound  awe  for  the  Sun.  Their  name  itself  was 
not  peculiar  to  the  fraternity  of  Palestine  and  Arabia, 
but  was  borne  by  the  ascetic  priests  at  Ephesus,  whose 
manner  of  life  was  similar ;  and  Plutarch  informs  us 
that  certain  odoi  (another  form  of  the  name)  performed 
mystic  rites  in  the  temple  of  Apollo  at  Delphi  in  com- 
memoration of  Zagreus,  the  sun-god  of  the  Orphic 
religion,  who  was  slain  and  resuscitated. 

The  Persian  theology  is  evidently  the  basis  and 
source  of  Judaism.  The  symbolism  of  the  universe 
afforded  a  model  for  their  religion.  After  the  conquest 
of  Pontus  and  the  pirate  empire  by  Pompey,  about 
70  B.  c,  the  worship  was  introduced  into  the  Roman 


THE  DBAMA  OF  THE  GOSPELS.  233 

empire.  The  verdict  of  Salamis  was  thus  reversed. 
The  defeat  of  Xerxes,  who  was  a  zealous  propagandist, 
had  assured  the  ascendency  of  Apollo  at  Delphi  and 
Demeter  at  Eleusis  over  the  religion  of  Ahura  Mazda  • 
but  the  conquest  of  the  Mithras-worshippers  by  Pom- 
pey  resulted  in  the  introduction  of  their  rites  into  every 
part  of  the  Roman  world.  From  the  river  Euphrates 
to  the  Wall  of  Antoninus  in  Britain,  and  into  the  for- 
ests of  Germany,  Mithraism  everywhere  prevailed. 
For  four  centuries  it  disputed  the  supremacy  with 
Christianity ;  and  even  when  it  was  proscribed  and 
forbidden  by  imperial  authority,  it  still  retained  its 
hold  upon  the  pagani  or  inhabitants  of  the  rural  dis- 
tricts. The  Templars  and  other  secret  fraternities  of 
the  Middle  Ages  were  more  or  less  similar  in  character 
to  those  of  the  Parsee  sun-god,  and  the  rites  which  we 
have  heard  denounced  as  magic  and  witchcraft  were 
Mithraic  ceremonies  mingled  with  aboriginal  customs. 
Although  the  divinity  is  essentially  Persian,  we  cannot 
but  regard  the  secret  worship  as  an  Assyrian  institution. 
M.  Lajard  has  given  an  account  of  this  cultus,  which  so 
generally  supplanted  the  mystic  worship  of  the  West. 

The  story  of  the  temptation  of  Jesus,  if  read  intel- 
ligently "  between  the  lines,"  will  be  seen  to  indicate 
the  characteristics  of  the  Mithraic  initiation.  "  Jesus 
came  from  Nazareth  of  Galilee  and  was  baptized  by 
John.  And  straightway  coming  up  out  of  the  water 
he  saw  the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Spirit  like  a  dove 
descending  upon  him ;  and  there  came  a  voice  from 
heaven  saying,  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I 


234  SKELETON  KEYS. 

am  well  pleased.  And  immediately  the  Spirit  driveth 
him  into  the  wilderness,  and  he  was  there  in  the  wil- 
derness forty  days  tempted  of  Satan  [Anra-mainyas], 
and  was  with  the  wild  beasts ;  and  the  angels  minis- 
tered to  him."  These  different  clauses  relate  to  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  mystic  ceremony. 

The  sojourn  of  the  apostle  Paul  in  Arabia,  it  is  ap- 
parent, was  for  a  purpose  in  close  analogy  with  that 
of  Jesus  in  the  wilderness,  as  already  described.  "  It 
had  pleased  God,"  he  says,  "  to  reveal  [or  unveil]  his 
Son  in  me ;"  so,  without  conferring  with  anybody,  he 
set  forth  on  his  holy  errand,  and  upon  his  return  began 
to  preach  a  gospel  which  he  declares  was  not  according 
to  man  nor  taught  in  lessons,  but  was  received  by  the 
revelation.  He  was  instructed  at  the  fountain  intu- 
itively, and  so  was  "  not  a  whit  behind  the  chiefest  apos- 
tles." Henca  in  the  utmost  intensity  of  feeling  he 
proclaimed,  "  If  we,  or  even  an  angel  from  heaven, 
preach  any  other  gospel  to  you,  let  him  be  accursed." 
He  goes  on  to  recite  the  history  of  his  career  to  show 
his  entire  independence  of  Judaism  and  the  other  apos- 
tles, and  dwells  upon  his  absolute  rupture  with  Peter 
at  Antioch  on  the  ground  of  the  adherence  of  the  latter 
to  the  discarded  restrictions  of  that  religion. 

The  question  now  becomes  pertinent.  What  is  the 
purport  of  this  "faith  "  ?  In  the  fifteenth  chapter  of 
the  First  Corinthian  Epistle  he  sets  forth  the  chief 
points  as  follows :  "  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all 
that  which  I  also  received :  how  that  Christ  died  for 
our  sins,  according  to  the  Scriptures  ;  also  that  he  was 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  235 

buried,  and  that  he  rose  again  the  third  day,  according 
to  the  Scriptures ;  and  that  he  was  seen  of  Cephas,  and 
after  that  of  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once ;  after 
that  he  was  seen  of  James,  and  then  of  all  the  apostles ; 
and,  last  of  all,  he  was  seen  of  me  also,  as  of  one  born 
out  of  due  time." 

It  may  appear  strange  to  the  common  reader  to  be 
told  that  these  matters,  which  the  apostle  sets  forth  with 
so  much  apparent  confidence,  are  mystic  and  arcane, 
the  transcript  of  older  theologies  and  constituted  through- 
out of  astrologic  symbolism.  The  ancient  faiths  of  the 
different  peoples  contain  doctrines  and  dramatic  narra- 
tive closely  analogous  with  the  evangelic  story  of  Jesus. 
The  later  Pei*sians  had  the  legend  of  Saoshyas  (the 
savior),  the  son  of  the  virgin  Eredatferi,  who  conceives 
him  in  a  miraculous  manner.  "He  will  appear  and 
restore  all  things,  after  which  he  will  hi/nself  become 
subordinate,  that  the  Creator  may  be  supreme  and  all 
in  all." 

In  the  Orphic  drama,  as  it  was  performed  by  the 
Osians  at  the  temple  of  Apollo  at  Delphi,  the  birth  of 
Zagreus  of  the  holy  maid  Perseplioneia  as  the  son  of 
the  Supreme  Being,  Zeus,  is  duly  represented ;  then 
his  proposed  heirship  of  the  universe,  his  passion  and 
death ;  and  finally  his  restoration  again  into  life  through 
a  reincarnation  as  son  of  the  virgin  Serael^  under  the 
new  name  of  Dionysos.  The  myth  was  Assyrian, 
Semeld  being  the  same  as  Mylitta,  the  mystic  mother, 
and  her  child,  Shamas  Dian-nisi,  or  the  ijei-sonified 
Sun,  the  Judge  or  Lord  of  mankind.     The  death,  res- 


236  SKELETON  KEYS. 

urrection,  and  glorification  of  this  Son  of  God  were 
celebrated  in  the  mystic  dramas  of  several  countries. 

The  legends  of  Atys  in  Asia  Minor,  of  Adonis  or 
Tammuz  in  Syria,  of  Osiris  in  Egypt,  were  derived 
from  the  same  source.  They  cover  the  same  field  and 
have  the  same  occult  meaning.  The  apocalypse,  or 
unveiling  of  the  mystic  pui-port  of  the  sacred  dramas 
to  those  considered  worthy  and  competent  to  under- 
stand them,  was  the  great  object  of  initiation.  The 
Gospels  were  regarded  formerly  as  accounts  of  a  trag- 
edy of  analogous  character.  The  higher  functionaries 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  we  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve, have  this  same  view,  which  is  more  than  hinted 
in  several  places.  Paul  speaks  unequivocally  in  this 
way  of  his  gospel  and  the  preaching  or  heralding  of 
Jesus  Christ,  "  according  to  the  revelation  or  unfolding 
of  the  mystery  now  made  known  to  all  nations  for  the 
obedience  of  faith."  When  the  disciples  asked  of  Jesus 
why  he  spoke  to  the  common  multitude  in  parables  he 
makes  this  reply  :  "  Unto  you  it  is  given  to  know  the 
mystery  of  the  reign  of  God ;  but  unto  them  that  are 
without  all  these  things  are  done  in  parables  :  that  see- 
ing they  may  see,  and  not  perceive,  and  hearing  they 
may  hear,  and  not  understand." 

In  these  religious  stories  there  is  a  very  similar  gen- 
eral outline.  There  is  a  divine  parentage  and  a  career 
given  ;  then  the  Holy  One  is  put  to  death,  the  corpse  is 
brought  in  for  burial,  the  tragic  occurrence  is  mourned 
by  women,  and  the  ceremonial  is  concluded  by  his  re- 
suscitation and  ascension.     There  were  varied  phases 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  237 

of  the  representation,  but  they  always  had  an  intimate 
relation  to  the  seasons  of  the  year  and  the  analogous 
occurrences  in  the  world  of  nature.  Thus  the  supposed 
death  more  frequently  occurred  at  the  beginning  of 
spring,  and  was  mourned  for  a  lenten  period  of  forty 
days,  which  the  vernal  equinox  brought  to  a  close. 
Then  funeral  rites  were  performed,  and  after  three  days, 
in  the  case  of  Adonis,  it  was  fabled  that  the  god  arose 
and  ascended  into  the  higher  sky.  In  the  Dionysia  or 
Bacchic  rite  the  god  descended  into  hell,  the  world  of 
death,  and  brought  thence  his  virgin  mother,  that  they 
might  be  glorified  together. 

The  Neo-Platonists  taught  that  these  occult  rites  were 
a  form  of  representing  philosophic  and  religious  dog- 
mas as  if  in  scenes  of  common  life  by  living  persons, 
and  of  shadowing  them  by  ceremonies  and  processions. 
This  is  more  than  hinted  by  Plato  himself,  and  is  un- 
doubtedly true.  The  candidates  were  prepared  for  par- 
ticipation by  long  periods  of  fasting  and  various  puri- 
fications, moral  and  physical.  The  Eleusinia  consisted 
of  a  drama  of  several  days  in  duration,  in  which  the 
abduction,  or  rather  death,  of  Persephon§  and  the  wan- 
derings of  her  mother  Demeter  served  as  the  veil  or 
myesis  to  the  doctrine  of  resurrection  and  life  of  eter- 
nity. The  author  of  The  Great  Dionysiak  Myth  has 
ably  presented  the  various  forms  of  the  Bacchic  rites 
with  the  same  basis  and  denouement.  Even  the  He- 
brew Scriptures  allude  to  the  matter.  The  "  mourning 
for  the  only  one "  is  mentioned  by  Jeremiah,  Amos, 
and  Zechariah. 


238  SKELETON  KEYS. 

That  the  story  of  Jesus  was  in  like  manner  a  drama 
for  religious  ends,  consisting  of  a  miraculous  parentage, 
a  career  of  goodness,  a  passion,  death,  resurrection,  and 
ascension,  is,  to  say  the  least,  no  improbable  solution 
of  the  question. 

It  has  also  been  noticed  that  the  events  of  the  sea- 
sons were  denoted  by  the  mystic  symbolism.  The  sun, 
stars,  constellations,  and  earth  are  commemorated  in 
regard  to  their  annual  careers  by  these  observances ; 
whether  because  they  were  essential  to  the  physical 
well-being  of  man  or  were  especially  appropriate  for 
symbology  different  writers  have  conjectured  different- 
ly, according  to  their  own  mental  peculiarities.  Prob- 
ably both  are  right,  so  far  as  their  views  extend. 

It  becomes  us  now  to  investigate  the  drama  of  the 
Gospels  more  carefully.  The  mythologic  story  of 
Mithras  was  probably  Assyrian  in  detail,  though  Per- 
sian in  firet  conception.  It  embraced  the  same  notions 
as  were  denoted  by  the  mysteries  of  the  Western  peo- 
ples, and  hence  the  Mithraic  worship  in  a  very  great 
degree  superseded  the  arcane  religions  of  Asia  Minor 
and  Europe.  Very  naturally,  as  may  easily  be  per- 
ceived, ihQ  framework  of  the  Gospel  narrative  is  on  the 
basis  of  these  rites.  The  influence  of  the  other  ancient 
faiths  is  also  conspicuously  manifest.  The  physical, 
and  particularly  the  astronomic,  features  are  every- 
where present  in  the  external  structure  of  Christianity. 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  quick  to  perceive  that  the  festi- 
vals of  the  Church  had  been  fixed  and  arranged  upon 
the  observed  phenomena  of  the  heavens,  and  gave  a 


THE  DRAMA  OF  THE  GOSPELS.  239 

detailed  list  of  correspondences.  It  was  not  prudent, 
however,  even  in  his  time,  for  a  man  to  say  all  he 
knew,  and  he  carefully  avoided  the  drawing  of  any 
conclusions  which  might  encourage  further  inquiry 
in  that  direction. 

It  has  already  been  suggested  that  the  gospel  of 
Paul  was  at  the  bottom  Essenean  and  Mithraic ;  and 
in  accordance  with  that  hypothesis  the  crucifixion, 
death,  burial,  resurrection,  and  ascension  would  be 
solar  and  astrologic  events.  The  Essenes,  as  well  as 
the  other  Mithras- worshippers,  adored  the  sun  and 
greeted  his  rising  with  invocations  and  sacred  chants. 
The  death  and  resurrection  were  "according  to  the 
Scriptures."  In  other  words,  they  were  duly  set  forth 
after  the  manner  of  literal  occurrences  in  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Essenes  long  before  Paul  was  born.  The 
adepts  of  that  fraternity  understood  the  matter,  and 
the  hostility  which  they  and  the  other  disciples  always 
exhibited  toward  the  great  apostle  was  because  he  di- 
vulged too  much.  His  writings  contained  many  dys- 
nostio  matters,  Peter  declared — many  matters  of  higher 
knowledge  improperly  expressed,  which  they  that  are 
unlearned  and  unstable  might  wrest  to  their  own  hurt. 
According  to  the  scriptures  of  the  brotherhood,  the 
drama  of  the  Gospel  had  its  denouement  in  the  passion 
and  tragedy  of  Jesus.  Paul,  like  a  genuine  adept,  has 
accepted  this  narrative  as  the  basis  of  his  gospel ;  nev- 
ertheless, as  though  aware  that  it  is  a  figurative  rather 
than  a  literal  occurrence,  he  nowhere  speaks  of  the 
crucifixion  as  a  crime. 


240  SKELETON  KEYS. 

We  use  the  term  drama  in  this  connection  from  a 
deliberate  purpose,  because  we  believe  it  correct.  It 
was  the  designation  of  the  matters  represented  in  the 
Eleusinian,  Dionysiac,  and  other  arcane  rites.  The 
theatre  of  the  Greeks  consisted  of  such  tragic  and  other 
representations,  which  were  performed  at  the  temples 
of  Bacchus  and  ^sculapius.  Our  modern  theatre 
originated  in  like  manner  from  the  mysteries  and  mir- 
acle-plays of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  which  monks  and 
priests  acted  the  parts  of  the  different  persons  of  the 
Gospel  drama.  The  "  Passion  Play,"  which  excites 
so  much  interest  in  these  modern  times,  is  very  sug- 
gestive, but  little  understood  by  sacerdotal ists. 

The  Christian  worship  in  the  earlier  centuries  was 
not  so  unlike  or  incongruous  with  the  pagan  customs 
as  may  have  been  supposed.  The  emperor  Hadrian, 
when  in  Egypt,  was  forcibly  impressed  with  the  ap- 
parent identity  of  the  worshippers  of  Serapis  with 
those  of  Christ.  "Those  who  worship  Serapis  are 
Christians,"  he  declared,  "  and  those  who  call  them- 
selves Christian  bishops  are  devotees  of  Serapis.  The 
very  patriarch  himself  when  he  came  into  Egypt  was 
said  by  some  to  worship  Serapis  and  by  others  to  wor- 
ship Christ." 

The  same  ambiguity  prevailed  in  the  case  of  Chris- 
tianity where  it  had  been  in  contact  with  the  ai"cane 
worship  of  Mithras.  Seel  endeavors  to  explain  the 
matter  as  one  of  policy.  He  states  that  the  early 
Christians  in  Germany  for  the  most  part  ostensibly 
paid  worship  to  the  Roman  gods  in  order  to  escape 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  241 

persecution.  He  makes  a  supposition  as  regards  the 
adoption  of  the  secret  religion.  "  It  is  by  no  means 
improbable,"  says  he,  "  that  under  the  permitted  sym- 
bols of  Mithras  they  worshipped  the  Son  of  God  and 
the  mysteries  of  Christianity.  In  this  point  of  view," 
he  adds,  "the  Mithraic  monuments  so  frequent  in 
Germany  are  evidences  of  the  secret  faith  of  the  early 
Christian  Romans."  We  are  not  ready  to  accept  this 
notion  that  the  Christians  paid  homage  to  one  God, 
meaning  another  at  the  same  time,  except  on  the  hy- 
pothesis that  they  regarded  Mithras  and  Jesus  as  vir- 
tually the  same  pei'sonification.  This  conclusion  seems 
to  be  countenanced  by  Augustine,  the  celebrated  bishop 
of  Hippo.  "  I  know,"  says  he,  "  that  the  worshippers 
of  the  divinity  in  the  cap  [the  statues  of  Mithras  were 
decorated  with  the  red  Phrygian  or  cardinal's  cap] 
used  to  say,  '  Our  god  in  the  cap  is  Christian.' " 

That  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  was  not  a  literal  his- 
toric occurrence  seems  to  require  no  argument.  Be- 
sides, the  first  day  of  the  Passover  was  never  a  Friday, 
nor  can  it  be  according  to  the  established  principles  of 
the  Jewish  calendar.  The  account  in  the  three  syn- 
optic Gospels  is  therefore  manifestly  not  correct  as  a 
literal  occurrence;  and  the  unknown  writer  of  the 
Gospel  of  John  has  lamely  attempted  to  evade  the 
difficulty  by  placing,  the  crucifixion  ou  the  day  before 
the  Passover. 

There  was  a  mystic  reason,  however,  for  this  state- 
ment of  the  synoptic  Gospels.  The  story  of  tlie  cru- 
cifixion had  the  same  occult  meaning  as  that  of  the 

16 


242  SKELETON  KEYS. 

departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt.  .  The  forty 
clays  in  which  Jesus  "  showed  himself  alive  after  his 
passion  "  corresponded  with  the  forty  years  of  wander- 
ing in  the  wilderness.  Hence,  as  the  Israelites  left 
Egypt  on  the  first  day  of  the  Pa&sover,  so  Jesus  was 
also  crucified  on  that  day.  Not  being  an  historical 
event,  one  actually  occurring,  the  statement  was  per- 
mitted in  order  to  preserve  the  harmony  and  identity 
of  the  myths. 

As,  however,  the  story  is  astrological,  we  need  only 
explain  that  the  sun  crossing  the  equinoctial  line  at  the 
21st  of  March  is  thus  crucified,  the  ecliptic  and  the 
equator  constituting  the  real  cross  in  the  form  of  the 
letter  X.  On  the  third  day  he  appears  ascending  in  the 
nortliern  hemisphere,  and  so  is  "  raised  again  accord- 
ing to  the  Scriptures." 

Paul,  while  referring  to  these  matters  as  apparently 
historical,  never  departs  from  their  symbolic  import. 
In  fact,  he  dwells  upon  this  so  emphatically  that  the 
events  are  only  mentioned  for  the  purpose  of  indicating 
his  meaning  more  definitely.  "  I  am  crucified  with 
Christ,"  says  he ;  "  they  that  are  of  Christ  have  cru- 
cified the  flesh  with  its  affections  and  lusts."  Nobody 
will  for  a  moment  imagine  that  this  crucifixion  meant 
any  physical  violence,  but  only  a  casting  off  of  those 
dispositions  which  are  essentially  unspiritual.  "  Our 
old  man  is  crucified,"  Paul  explains  again,  "  in  order 
that  the  body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed ;  .  .  .  likewise 
reckon  ye  also  yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin, 
but  alive  unto  God."     This  is  the  real  meaning  of  the 


THE  DRAMA    OF  THE  GOSPELS.  243 

death  and  resurrection  as  a  spiritual  matter.  The  ex- 
ternal history  which  is  so  much  insisted  upon  by  the 
partisans  of  the  letter  vanishes  utterly  away  before  the 
eyes  of  him  who  perceives  as  well  as  sees,  and  under- 
stands through  intelligence  rather  than  by  scientific 
and  logical  reasoning. 

The  early  Fathers  of  the  Church  never  scrupled  to' 
employ  rites,  symbols,  and  other  agencies  which  had 
been  previously  used  by  the  various  priesthoods  of  the' 
pagan  worships.  The  entire  biography  of  Jesus,  as  it 
is  set  forth  in  the  Gospels,  exhibits  unequivocally  as- 
trological features,  and  a  resemblance  to  the  narratives 
of  the  gods  so  close  as  to  be  equivalent  almost  to  actual 
identity.  The  miraculous  conception  was  but  a  coun- 
terpart of  many  others :  Atys,  Adonis,  Hercules,  Bac- 
chus, and  ^sculapius  were  fabled  to  have  been  sons  of 
gods  by  human  mothers.  The  25th  of  December  was 
also  the  birthday  of  Mithras;  and  Chrysostom,  with 
characteristic  sophistry  and  equivocation,  explains  the 
matter  and  justifies  it  as  follows :  "  On  this  day  also 
the  birthday  of  Christ  was  lately  fixed  at  Rome,  in 
order  that  while  the  heathen  were  busied  with  their 
profane  ceremonies  the  Christians  might  perform  their 
holy  rites  undisturbed."  He  adds :  "  They  call  this 
the  birthday  of  the  Invincible  One :  who  so  invinci- 
ble as  the  Lord  that  overthrew  and  conquered  death  ? 
They  style  it  the  birthday  of  tlie  sun ;  he  is  the  Sun 
of  righteousness  of  whom  Malachi  speaks  :  '  Upon  you 
who  fear  my  name  the  Sun  of  righteousness  shall  arise 
with  healing  in  his  wings.' " 


244  SKELETON  KEYS. 

At  the  very  outset  a  serious  difficulty  is  encountered. 
When  the  Roman  emperor  Theodosius,  fifteen  centuries 
ago,  decreed  the  universal  authority  of  the  Christian 
Church,  he  commanded  also  that  all  books  of  the  phi- 
losophers and  others  not  according  to  the  new  faith 
should  be  destroyed.  This  leaves  only  the  collection 
known  as  the  New  Testament  and  the  writings  of  cer- 
tain theologians,  together  with  certain  Gospels,  Epistles, 
and  Apocalypses  denominated  apocryphal  which  were 
extant  during  the  earlier  centuries  of  our  era.  In 
addition  to  this,  there  is  internal  evidence  in  the  writ- 
ings now  regarded  as  canonical  that  they  have  been 
abridged,  added  to,  and  changed,  so  that  the  sense  is 
more  or  less  obscured  and  doctrines  are  affirmed  which 
were  not  in  the  original  documents. 

With  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  some  of  the  Epistles 
of  Paul,  James,  and  First  Peter  there  is  no  evidence, 
or  even  probability,  that  any  other  book  of  the  New 
Testament,  whether  Gospel,  Epistle,  or  Apocalypse, 
was  written,  or  even  known,  by  the  individual  whose 
name  it  bears.  Indeed,  it  is  well  known  among  stu- 
dents that  the  practice  was  formerly  common  to  append 
the  name  of  some  distinguished  personage  to  a  letter  or 
treatise  and  put  it  forth  with  this  to  commend  it. 
"  Our  ancestors,"  says  the  philosopher  Jamblichus, 
"  used  to  inscribe  their  own  writings  with  the  name 
of  Herm^,  he  being  as  common  property  to  all  the 
priests."  Very  significant,  therefore,  is  the  clause 
"according  to"  w-hich  occurs  in  the  title  of  every  one 
of  the  four  Gospels.     Each  of  them  has  been  in  exist- 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  245 

ence  some  fifteen  or  sixteen  centuries  "  without  father, 
without  mother,"  or  any  other  voucher  or  guarantee  as 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  statements  which  it  contains. 
"We  have  no  obligation  to  hesitate  in  our  avowal 
that  not  one  of  the  four  reputed  evangelists  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  production  to  which  his  name  is 
affixed.  The  works  must  stand  upon  their  intrinsic 
merits,  and  receive  consideration  accordingly. 

Two  centuries  had  passed  away  after  the  beginning 
of  the  present  era  before  the  designation  of  New  Testa- 
ment was  used  in  connection  with  any  collection  of 
writings,  and  before  any  special  authority  was  claimed 
for  them.  The  men  who  first  suggested  their  canonicity 
were  Irenseus  of  Lyons,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and 
Tertullian  of  Carthage.  Neither  of  these  men,  so  far 
as  is  known,  made  any  attempt  to  demonstrate  that  any 
book  of  the  collection  was  genuine  or  authentic.  Pro- 
fessor Davidson  has  declared  in  regard  to  the  scribes 
who  made  the  copies  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Teslament 
that  they  did  not  refrain  from  changing  what  had  been 
written  or  inserting  fresh  matter.  The  same  course 
has  been  taken  likewise  with  the  text  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. Heretics  and  orthodox  alike  added  to  its 
matter  in  order  to  establish  their  peculiar  dogmas. 
The  text  is  nowhere  pure.  The  doctrines  of  the  Trin- 
ity, the  Nativity  of  Jesus,  his  Godhead  and  equality 
with  the  Father,  the  story  of  Mary,  were  all  introduced 
from  Egypt  and  engrafted  into  the  Gospels. 

Jesus  is  represented  as  having  been  born  in  a  cave 
or  stable  at  the  moment  of  midnight.     At  that  period 


246  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  coustellation  Virgo  is  cut  exactly  in  half  by  the 
eastern  horizon,  the  sun  itself  being  beneath  in  the 
zodiacal  sign  of  Capricorn,  which  was  also  called  "the 
Stable  of  Augeas"  that  Hercules  was  set  to  cleanse. 
Justin  Martyr  corroborates  this  by  stating  that  Christ 
was  born  when  the  sun  (Mithras)  takes  his  birth  in 
the  stable  of  Augeas,  coming  as  a  second  Hercules  to 
cleanse  a  foul  world.  Hence  the  rosary  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  has  this  service  :  "  Let  us  contemplate 
how  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  when  the  time  of  her 
delivery  was  come,  brought  forth  our  Redeemer  at 
midnight  and  laid  him  in  a  manger." 

By  the  cave,  or  petra,  we  may  understand  the  cave 
of  initiation,  which  was  always  employed  in  ancient 
mystic  rites.  There  was  such  a  cave  at  Bethlehem, 
and  Jerome  affirms  that  the  mysteries  of  Adonis  were 
celebrated  there  in  his  time.  Justin  has  preserved  the 
tradition  that  Mithras  was  born  in  a  cave  or  petra,  and 
Porphyry  asserts  that  his  rites  were  observed  in  caves 
representing  the  vault  of  the  heavens.  The  famous 
declaration  to  Peter  owes  all  its  significance  to  this 
fact :  "  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  (petra)  I 
will  build  my  Church ;  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  it.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven :  and  whatso- 
ever thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heav- 
en." Undoubtedly,  this  passage  is  an  interpolation ; 
nevertheless,  it  is  susceptible  of  explanation.  Jesus 
having  asked  the  twelve  apostles  who  he  was  said  to 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  247 

be,  they  reply :  the  "  reincarnation "  of  this  or  that 
prophet,  as  it  was  believed  that  such  rebirth  was  usual 
among  men.  Peter  then  avows  that  he  is  the  Son  of 
God. 

Significantly,  Peter  is  not  a  Jewish  proper  name, 
but  relates  to  function.  It  is  a  Semitic  word  denoting 
an  interpreter  of  oracles.  The  priests  of  Apollo  among 
the  Gauls  were  denominated  paterce,  as  having  the  gift 
of  prophecy.  The  residence  of  Balaam  the  prophet 
was  called  Petur,  and  there  were  oracles  of  Apollo  at 
Patrai  in  Achaia  and  Patara  in  Asia  Minor.  When, 
therefore,  it  is  announced  that  the  Church  would  be 
built  "  upon  this  rock,"  we  may  understand  it  to  be 
the  apostle's  oracular  utterance  that  Jesus  was  the  Son 
of  God.  The  Church  that  was  thus  established  con- 
sisted solely  of  adepts  and  initiates,  the  clergy  only, 
and  the  higher  functionaries  at  that.  The  laity  only 
belong  to  the  Church :  the  others  are  the  Church. 

The  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  have  for  centuries 
caused  the  fiction  to  be  promulgated  that  the  apostle 
Peter  founded  the  universal  see  of  Rome.  This  is  like 
the  mystic  utterances  of  Jesus  in  speaking  to  the  mul- 
titude in  parables.  The  pope,  cardinals,  and  prelates 
know  the  real  truth.  There  never  took  place,  so  far 
as  any  historical  evidence  exists,  any  visit,  and  much 
less  the  martyrdom,  of  the  apostle  Peter  at  Rome. 
The  pope  is  not  the  successor  of  any  Christian  apostle 
whatever,  but  only  of  the  pagan  high  priest.  Under 
the  republic  and  emperors  the  pontifex  maximus  was 
the  supreme   religious  dignitary.     Julius  Ciesar  held 


248  •     SKELETON  KEYS. 

that  office.  He  presided  over  the  worship  and  inter- 
preted the  sacred  oracles.  It  was  a  direction  in  the 
secret  religion  never  to  change  the  foreign  names.  The 
Chaldaic  designation  of  the  supreme  pontiff  and  hiero- 
phant  was  peier.  When  the  ancient  worship  was  sup- 
pressed the  Roman  bishop  succeeded  to  the  pontificate ; 
and  by  this  exaltation  became  vicar  of  the  Lord  and 
successor  of  the  peter  or  pagan  pontiff  of  Rome. 

The  tradition  of  the  Magi  or  wise  men  coming  from 
the  east  to  worship  the  infant  Jesus,  which  was  pre- 
fixed to  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  is  pretty  well  set  forth 
by  the  names  given  them  :  Kaspar,  the  white  one ; 
Melchior,  the  king  of  light ;  and  Balthasar,  the  lord 
of  treasures.  The  additional  legend  that  they  travelled 
to  Germany  and  were  buried  at  Cologne  grew  out  of 
the  fact  that  the  Mithraic  worship  was  prevalent  in 
that  region. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  while  considering  the 
astrologic  character  of  the  story  of  Jesus,  that  the  divis- 
ion of  the  apparent  path  of  the  sun  among  the  stars 
into  the  constellations  which  form  the  zodiac  was  made 
and  known  throughout  the  Oriental  world  and  em- 
ployed in  its  religious  myths  at  an  antiquity  so  remote 
as  not  to  be  known  when  the  plan  was  devised. 

Astrological  correspondences  are  carefully  maintain- 
ed all  through  the  gospel  narrative.  The  apostles  rep- 
resent the  twelve  months,  each  of  them  being  sent  or 
commissioned  to  announce  him  (the  sun)  to  the  people. 
The  special  events  and  their  dates  are  commemorated 
by  the  Church  so  as  to  be  coincident  with  astrological 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  249 

data.  The  designation  "  Lamb  of  God  "  comes  direct- 
ly from  the  fact  that  the  crucifixion  was  placed  at  the 
time  the  sun  crosses  the  equinoctial  line  in  March,  and 
so  entered  the  zodiacal  sign  of  Aries,  the  Lamb.  He 
was  thus  "  slain  before  the  foundation  of  the  world," 
or  year,  and  takes  away  the  sins  or  evils  of  winter. 
Having  descended  into  hell,  or  the  winter  period,  he 
rises  from  the  dead.  He  is  now  enthroned ;  the  four 
beasts,  denoting  the  four  chief  constellations  in  each 
quarter  of  the  zodiacal  circle — Taurus,  Leo,  Aquila, 
and  Aquarius — adore  him,  and  the  twenty-four  elders 
(or  hours)  fall  down  and  worship  him.  The  miracle 
of  turning  water  into  wine  is  done  every  year,  as  Ad- 
dison has  sung : 

"  May  the  sun  refine 
The  grape's  soft  juice  and  mellow  it  to  wine." 

The  curse  of  the  fig  tree  is  visited  on  every  plant 
that  is  feeble  and  poorly  rooted  when  the  sun's  heat 
comes  upon  it.  John  the  Baptist  says  of  Jesus :  "  He 
must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease."  The  24th  of 
June,  St.  John's  Day,  is  the  last  of  the  summer  sol- 
stice, from  which  period  the  days  shorten,  as,  on  the 
contrary,  from  the  25th  of  December,  the  natal  day  of 
Jesus,  they  lengthen.  "  This  is  the  sixth  month  with 
her  that  was  called  barren,"  said  the  angel  Grabriel  to 
Mary  on  the  25th  of  March,  the  Annunciation,  nine 
months  before  Christmas.  On  the  15th  of  August  the 
Church  celebrates  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin into  the  heavenly  chamber  of  the  King  of  kings, 
and  accordingly  the  constellation  Virgo  (or  Astrsea) 


250  SKELETON  KEYS. 

also  disappears,  being  eclipsed  by  the  light  and  glory 
of  the  sun.  This  disappearance  continues  seven  days. 
Miriam,  the  virgin  sister  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  doubt- 
less also  an  astral  character,  was  secluded  seven  days 
while  leprous.  Three  weeks  later  the  sun  has  moved 
on  in  the  sky,  permitting  the  constellation  again  to 
appear ;  and  accordingly  the  Church  celebrates  the  8th 
of  September  as  the  anniversary  of  the  nativity  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin. 

The  prominent  pagan  symbols  which  are  now  adopt- 
ed by  the  Christian  prelacy  are  generally  astronomical. 
Astrology  and  religion  always  went  hand  in  hand,  and 
have  not  been  legally  divorced.  At  an  earlier  period 
the  sun  entered  the  zodiacal  sign  of  Taurus  at  the  ver- 
nal equinox.  This  fact  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  bull 
or  calf  as  a  symbol  of  the  Deity.  We  notice  this  fact 
all  over  the  ancient  world,  and  in  some  modern  peo- 
ples that  have  not  had  a  learned  caste  of  priests.  Ev- 
ery 2152  years  the  zodiac  shifts  backward  one  sign — 
i.  e.  one-twelfth  of  its  whole  extent.  Hence,  eventu- 
ally, Aries,  the  Ram  or  Lamb,  took  the  place  of  the 
Bull  to  represent  the  god  of  spring.  The  paschal 
lamb,  the  ram-headed  god  Amen  of  Egypt,  and  the 
lamb  of  Christian  symbolism  thus  came  into  existence. 
Since  that  the  constellation  Pisces  has  become  the  equi- 
noctial sign,  and  the  Fish  is  the  symbol  of  the  Church. 
Hence  the  bishop  of  Rome  employs  the  seal  of  the  fisher- 
man, and  the  Gospel  narrative  has  made  St.  Peter  a 
"fisher."  In  this  way  the  entire  passion  of  Jesus 
from  the  crucifixion  to  the  ascension  is  astronomic. 


TEE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  251 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  having  the  superior 
understanding  of  the  matter,  holds  Protestants  in  de- 
rision for  making  a  fetish  of  the  Bible  and  worshipping 
the  sun,  while  not  comprehending  the  matter  intelli- 
gently. Indeed,  it  is  known  by  every  intelligent  priest 
that  the  sun  and  phallic  symbols  characterize  every 
world-religion.  No  matter  what  attempts  are  made 
to  disguise  the  matter,  such  is  the  fact.  That  the  sun 
is  the  light  of  the  world  needs  but  a  mention ;  and  so 
is  Jesus  as  the  avatar  or  personification.  The  cross 
on  which  he  is  impaled  was  a  symbol  of  the  phallic 
worship  thousands  of  years  ago.  The  form  may  be 
an  X,  t,  or  f ,  but  it  means  the  same.  He  is  buried  in 
winter  and  resuscitated  in  the  spring. 

Thus,  to  recapitulate  :  The  Christian  religion  consists 
of  the  worship  of  a  divine  being  incarnated  in  human 
form  in  order  to  redeem  fallen  man,  born  of  a  virgin, 
teaching  immortality,  working  wonders,  dying  through 
the  machinations  of  the  evil  one,  rising  from  death,  re- 
ascending  into  heaven,  and  to  be  the  judge  of  the  living 
and  dead.  The  Mithraic  worship,  its  great  rival 
and  counterpart,  was  constituted  with  similar  imagery. 
The  festivals  appointed  in  honor  of  Mithras  were  fixed 
in  accordance  with  the  seasons  of  the  year,  his  birth 
being  at  the  end  of  the  solstice  in  December,  his  death 
directly  after  the  equinox  in  March.  Christ,  being 
like  Mithras,  the  personification  of  the  sun  and  lord  of 
the  cosmos,  enacts  a  career  on  earth  corresponding  in 
its  principal  parts  to  that  of  the  sun  in  the  heavens. 
The  Holy  Spirit  as  a  wind  or  atmosphere  is  the  herald 


252  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  his  advent.  The  Virgin  is  the  moon,  the  mother 
of  the  sun  and  queen  of  heaven,  just  as  she  was  in  the 
pagan  world  under  different  names. 

Often  also  at  evening  we  witness  the  sun  undergoing  a 
bloody  passion  and  dying  amid  the  reddened  sky,  leav- 
ing to  the  one  whom  he  loves  the  moon  as  his  mother. 

So  conscious  is  the  Church  of  its  descent  in  direct 
line  from  the  former  paganism  that  it  has  adopted  the 
symbols  of  its  predecessor  and  placed  many  of  the  old 
gods  in  its  catalogue  of  saints  along  with  the  Assyrian 
archangels.  Bacchus  appears  there  as  St.  Bacchus,  St. 
Denis  or  Dionysius,  St.  Liber,  St.  Eleutherius,  St. 
Lyacus.  Priapus  is  there  as  St.  Foutin,  St.  Cosmo, 
and  St.  Damian.  The  nymph  Aura  Placida  is  St. 
Aura  and  St.  Placida.  There  is  also  St.  Bibiana, 
whose  anniversary  occurs  on  the  day  of  the  Grecian 
festival  of  tapping  the  wine-casks.  The  star  Marga- 
rita has  become  St.  Margaret,  and  Hippolytus  the  son 
of  Theseus,  the  hero-founder  of  the  Athenian  polity, 
has  also  been  canonized.  The  true  image,  or  veraicony 
has  become  St.  Veronica,  as  the  supreme  hierophant 
of  Roman  paganism  is  St.  Peter.  Then,  too,  there  are 
sainted  dogmas  personified,  as  St.  Perpetua,  St.  Feli- 
citas,  St.  Rogatian,  St.  Donatian,  etc.  There  are  also 
St.  Abraham,  St.  Michael,  St.  Gabriel,  St.  David,  and 
St.  Patrick,  whose  anniversary  falls  on  that  of  his  well- 
known  predecessor.  Pater  Liber,  the  Roman  Bacchus. 
The  keys  of  the  Italian  Janus  and  the  Phrygian  Kybel6 
are  now  held  by  the  pope  as  the  keys  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  253 

There  is  not  a  feature,  symbol,  ceremony,  or  dogma 
in  the  Church  which  did  not  have  a  pagan  prototype. 
Another  fact  is  equally  curious.  While  the  worship 
of  Mithras  is  the  evident  origin  of  the  Christian  cultus, 
the  Lamas  of  Thibet  in  the  heart  of  Asia  also  have 
ecclesiastical  orders,  ceremonies,  and  other  institutions 
which  are  the  almost  literal  counterpart  of  those  of 
Rome. 

Whether  there  ever  was  really  such  an  individual 
living  on  the  eaiih  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth  becomes,  in 
view  of  these  facts,  a  minor  question.  Myth,  legend, 
tradition,  and  fancy  have  so  transformed  him  that  there 
is  no  nucleus  of  original  humanity  left  in  sight.  He  is 
almost  absolutely  without  an  historical  mention.  He 
has  become  a  myth,  a  personification,  whether  he  was 
really  a  man  or  not.  He  is  therefore  an  ideal,  and  not 
real.  The  passages  in  Josephus  are  unquestionable  for- 
geries. Tacitus  speaks  of  him  as  having  been  crucified 
under  Pilate,  but  in  no  way  as  an  occurrence  to  be 
vouched  for.  Suetonius  in  his  life  of  Claudius  Caesar 
states  that  the  emperor  banished  the  Jews  from  Rome 
because  they  raised  sedition  under  the  instigation  of 
one  Chrestos.  If  this  is  to  be  considered  as  meaning 
the  reputed  founder  of  the  Christian  religion,  the  or- 
thography of  the  name  is  very  suggestive.  Godfrey 
Higgins  declares  in  his  Anacalypsis  that  it  was  the 
original  term  used,  and  was  changed  to  Chreistos  and 
Christ  for  ecclesiastical  reasons.  He  was  of  oj^iniou 
also  that  transcribers  had  made  these  alterations  in  the 
books  of  the  New  Testament.     Chrestos  was  a  title  of 


254  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Apollo  and  other  divinities,  and  was  conferred  ujwn 
the  better  class  of  citizens  in  certain  Grecian  states. 
Once  the  term  is  applied  to  Jesus  in  the  first  Epistle 
of  Peter :  "  The  Lord  is  Chrestos."  The  probabilities 
favor  the  supposition,  the  terra  Messiah,  which  is  the 
Hebrew  equivalent  for  Christ,  being  nowhere  used 
except  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  John 
to  designate  Jesus,  and  that  being  a  doubtful  passage. 

There  are  few  data  remaining  that  indicate  the  cha- 
racter of  Jesus.  So  far  as  these  are  definitive  they 
exhibit  a  close  relationship  to  the  Essenean  brother- 
hood. 

During  the  reign  of  Herod  I.,  Hillel,  a  Babylonian, 
became  president  of  the  Sanhedrim.  He  was  thus  the 
recognized  head  of  the  school,  his  opponents  being 
known  as  Shammaites.  Both  parties  professed  to  be 
the  custodians  of  the  Kabala  or  traditions  of  the  an- 
cients. These  comprised  the  arcane  literature  of  the 
Jews,  which  was  to  be  kept  carefully  away  from  the 
laity.  The  Hillelites  appear  to  have  been  more  tena- 
cious of  principles,  but  the  Shammaites  were  very 
captious  in  regard  to  the  minutiae.  The  Login,  or 
aphorisms,  imputed  to  Jesus  accord  with  the  utterances 
of  Hillel,  and  in  a  degree  justify  the  opinion  of  the 
Rabbis. 

The  relations  of  tlie  birth  of  Jesus  at  Bethlehem 
and  his  early  abode  at  Nazareth  are  of  the  character 
of  myth,  and  serve  to  indicate  his  association  with  the 
Essenes.  Bethlehem  was  the  reputed  birthplace  of 
King  David,  and  afterward  the  prophet  Micah,  de- 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  255 

picting  the  rise  of  Hezekiah  as  the  messiah  and  libera- 
tor of  Judea  from  the  Assyrian  yoke,  assigns  his  origin 
to  the  same  place.  This  latter  prince  could  not  have 
been  the  son  of  Ahaz,  whom  he  is  said  to  have  suc- 
ceeded, having  been  born  when  that  king  was  but  ten 
or  eleven  years  old.  That  the  dynasty  of  Ahaz  was 
overthrown  is  intimated  in  the  declaration  of  Isaiah 
(7  : 9),  and  by  his  announcement  of  the  accession  of  a 
new  prince  (9  :  6,  7  ;  11:1,  etc.).  The  town  of  Beth- 
lehem and  the  places  about  are  enumerated  in  the  sec- 
ond chapter  of  First  Chronicles  as  containing  "the 
families  of  the  scribes,"  "the  Kenites,"  from  whom 
proceeded  the  Rechabites  of  later  times.  These  Kenites 
appear  to  have  been  a  sacerdotal  and  literary  tribe, 
like  the  Magians  of  Media.  They  are  said  to  have 
lived  near  the  city  of  palm  trees  (Judges  1  :  16),  and 
to  have  removed  into  the  southern  part  of  the  Judean 
territory.  Moses  was  described  as  having  intermarried 
and  been  adopted  among  them,  and  the  kings  Saul  and 
David  were  more  or  less  familiar  with  them.  Saul 
found  them  when  he  marched  against  the  Amalekites, 
and  David  sent  them  presents,  as  being  accustomed  in 
his  career  as  an  outlaw  to  "  haunt "  their  region. 
Elijah  the  prophet  is  said  to  have  gone  into  their 
country  when  he  was  driven  out  of  the  kingdom  of 
Samaria. 

The  birth  of  Jesus  at  Bethlehem  would  seem,  therefore, 
to  have  some  mystic  reference  to  this  people,  as  well  as  to 
the  notion  of  a  lineal  descent  from  David.  His  abode 
in  the  earlier  years  of  life  at  Nazareth  was  evidently  a 


256  SKELETON  KEYS. 

myth  of  kindred  nature.  Curiously  enough,  the  writer 
of  the  first  chapter  of  Luke  has  represented  Mary  as  a 
resident  of  Nazareth,  while  the  second  chapter  of  Mat- 
thew describes  Joseph  as  taking  up  his  abode  there  in- 
cidentally, fulfilling  the  word  of  the  Essenean  proph- 
ets :  "  He  will  be  called  a  Nazarene,"  or  Nazarite. 
The  Esseneans  were  also  denominated  Nazarim,  and 
we  may  perceive  the  idea  suggested  by  the  name  that 
Jesus  belonged  to  their  body.  It  was  a  common  mode 
of  writing,  to  describe  an  every-day  occurrence  in  a 
form  conveying  a  mystic  or  occult  meaning  beneath 
the  apparent  statement.  The  character  of  Jesus  as  a 
prophet  and  representative  personage  is  thus  actually 
signified.  His  birth  in  the  country  of  the  Kenites  and 
adepts  betokened  his  consecration  and  separation,  while 
the  residence  at  Nazareth  typified  his  Essenean  rela- 
tions. 

The  congregation  of  disciples  at  Jerusalem  and  their 
sympathizers  in  Palestine  were  designated  as  Nazore- 
ans  and  Ebionim.  It  is  no  great  stretch  of  imagination 
to  presume  them  to  have  been  an  offshoot  of  the  Es- 
senean brotherhood.  These  were  zealous  propagand- 
ists, and  their  modes  of  life  and  action  coincide  very 
closely  with  those  of  the  early  Church.  The  writers 
of  the  Gospels  and  Acts  of  the  Apostles  describe  the 
apostles  and  their  converts  as  living  after  the  manner 
of  an  Essenean  commune.  Jesus  "  ordained  twelve 
that  they  should  be  with  him ;  .  .  .  and  they  went 
into  a  house,"  or  became  as  one  family.  This  was 
precisely  like  the  Essenes  and  Therapeutse.     "  In  the 


THE  DBAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  257 

first  place,"  says  Philo,  "  not  one  of  them  has  a  house 
of  his  own  which  does  not  belong  to  all  of  them." 
For  besides  their  living  together  in  large  societies,  each 
house  is  also  open  to  every  visiting  brother  of  the  order. 
"  Furthermore,  all  of  them  have  one  store  of  provisions 
and  equal  expenses  ;  they  have  their  garments  in  com- 
mon, as  they  do  with  their  provisions.  They  reside 
together,  eat  together,  and  have  everything  in  common 
to  an  extent  as  it  is  carried  out  nowhere  else."  Hence 
we  read  without  surprise  that  the  multitude  came  about 
them,  so  that  they  could  not  so  much  as  eat  bread. 
The  apostolic  congregation  is  also  described  as  imitating 
the  same  form  of  living  :  "  All  that  believed  were  to- 
gether and  had  all  things  common  ;  and  sold  their  pos- 
sessions and  goods,  and  parted  them  to  all  of  them  as 
every  one  had  need.  .  .  .  Neither  said  any  of  them 
that  aught  of  the  things  which  he  possessed  was  his 
own ;  but  they  had  all  things  common.  Neither  was 
there  any  among  them  that  lacked ;  for  as  many  as 
were  possessors  of  lands  or  houses  sold  them,  and 
brought  the  price  of  the  things  that  were  sold  and  laid 
them  down  at  the  apostles'  feet ;  and  distribution  was 
made  unto  every  man  as  he  had  need."  For  a  time 
the  apostles,  it  is  stated,  were  stewards  of  the  whole 
body,  teaching  them  and  supplying  them  with  food, 
till  finally  seven  Hellenistic  Jews  were  selected  and  set 
apart  for  that  purpose. 

Eusebius  comments  upon  the  account  given  by  Philo 
of  the  Therapeutae,  as  follows :  "  These  facts  appear  to 
have  been  stated  by  a  man  (Philo),  who  at  least  has 

17 


258  SKELETON  KEYS. 

paid  attention  to  those  that  have  expounded  the  sacred 
writings.  But  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  ancient 
commentaries  which  he  says  they  have  are  the  very 
Gospels  and  writings  of  the  apostles,  and  probably 
some  expositions  of  the  ancient  prophets,  such  as  are 
contained  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  many 
others  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles.  .  .  .  Why  need  we  add 
an  account  of  their  meetings,  and  the  separate  abodes 
of  men  and  women  in  these  meetings,  and  the  exercises 
performed  by  them,  which  are  still  in  vogue  among  us 
at  the  present  day ;  and  which,  especially  at  the  festival 
of  our  Saviour's  passion,  we  are  accustomed  to  use  in 
our  fastings  and  watchings  and  in  the  study  of  the 
divine  word!  All  these  the  above-mentioned  author 
has  accurately  described  and  stated  in  his  writings; 
and  they  are  the  same  customs  that  are  observed  by  us 
alone  at  the  present  day,  particularly  the  vigils  of  the 
great  festivals,  and  the  exercises  in  them  and  the  hymns 
that  are  commonly  recited  among  us.  He  states  that 
whilst  one  sings  gracefully  with  a  certain  measure,  the 
othei's,  listening  in  silence,  join  in  singing  the  final 
clauses  of  the  hymns  ;  also  that  on  the  above-mention- 
ed days"  they  lie  on  straw  spread  on  the  ground,  and, 
to  use  his  own  words,  tliey  abstain  altogether  from 
wine  and  taste  no  flesh.  Water  is  their  only  drink, 
and  the  relish  of  their  bread,  salt,  and  hyssop.  Be- 
sides this,  he  describes  the  grades  of  dignity  among 
those  who  administer  the  ecclesiastical  services  com- 
mitted to  them — those  of  the  deacons  and  president  of 
the  episcopate  as  the  highest.     But  whosoever  desires 


THE  DRAMA    OF  THE  GOSPELS.  259 

to  have  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  these  things  may 
learn  them  from  the  history  already  cited ;  but  that 
Philo,  when  he  wrote  those  statements,  had  in  view 
the  first  heralds  of  the  gospel  and  the  original  practices 
handed  down  from  the  apostles  must  be  obvious  to 
all." 

As  if  to  afford  further  foundation  for  this  conjecture 
of  identity  of  the  early  disciples  with  the  Ebionites, 
the  Greek  word  for  this  designation,  "  ptochos,"  usu- 
ally translated  "poor"  and  "beggar,"  occurs  in  the 
New  Testament  in  a  manner  which  often  suggests  that 
the  Ebionites  are  meant  by  the  designation. 

"  Happy  the  poor  in  spirit,"  says  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount ;  "  for  the  kingdom  of  the  heavens  is  theirs." 
"The  gospel  is  preached  to  them"  was  the  message  sent 
to  John  the  Baptist  in  his  prison  at  Macheras.  "  If  thou 
wilt  be  perfect,"  says  Jesus  to  the  young  man,  "  go,  sell 
that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor."  In  the  Gospel 
accoixiing  to  St.  Luke  (6  :  20)  Jesus  actually  addresses 
his  disciples  as  "  ye  poor,"  or  Ebionim.  Lazarus  is 
called  Ptochos,  or  JEbioni,  in  the  sixteenth  chapter. 
Paul  sternly  rebukes  the  G^latian  Christians  for  their 
conversion  to  Ebionism  :  "  But  then,  not  having  seen 
God,  you  were  servants  to  those  that  are  not  gods ;  but 
now  having  known  God,  or  rather  having  been  known 
by  God,  why  do  you  turn  about  again  to  the  weak  and 
beggarly  elements  ?" 

Nevertheless,  the  conclusion  of  Eusebius,  that  the 
Essenes  or  Therapeutse  were  only  Christians  of  the 
apostolic  age,  is  impossible.      They  were  of  greater 


260  SKELETON  KEYS. 

antiquity,  and  flourished  when  Christians— or  Chres- 
tians,  whichever  they  may  be — had  never  been  heard 
of.  The  converse  is  more  probable  by  far — that  the 
apostles  and  their  Ebionite  followers  were  religionists 
after  the  form  of  the  Essenes. 

We  have  indicated  the  evident  similarity  of  these 
sectaries  with  the  Mithraic  initiates,  and  the  fact  has 
also  been  shown  that  many  of  the  Christians  of  the  first 
centuries  also  observed  the  rites  of  that  worship.  That 
the  astrological  features  of  each  were  identical  and  are 
manifest  in  the  story  of  Jesus  has  also  been  illustrated. 
We  may  now  treat  the  final  question,  that  of  the  per- 
son of  Jesus  himself. 

It  is  the  easiest  way  just  now  to  concede  his  physical 
existence,  and  reject  the  marvels,  exaggerations,  and 
other  incredibilities  of  the  Gospel  narratives.  A  Ko- 
man  Catholic  writer  of  great  acuteness  has  marked  out 
that  very  course.  He  explains  his  position  so  aptly 
that  we  will  reproduce  the  principal  features,  which 
certainly  seem  in  a  great  degree  to  sustain  our  propo- 
sition. "  Where  intellect  sees  an  idea,  an  abstraction," 
says  he,  "  religion  sees  a  person.  This  involves  a  su- 
perior development  of  the  consciousness;  inasmuch 
while  intellect  of  itself,  having  neither  motive  nor 
force,  could  not  have  created,  personality  includes 
intellect  and  all  else  that  is  indispensable  to  action — 
namely,  feeling  and  energy." 

He  sets  forth  Christianity  as  a  religion  in  Palestine 
"  which  consisted  in  the  worship  of  a  Divine  Being  in- 
carnated in  human  form  in  order  to  redeem  fellen  man, 


THE  DRAMA  OF  THE  GOSPELS.  261 

bom  of  a  virgin,  teaching  immortality,  working  won- 
ders of  benevolence,  dying  through  the  hostile  machina- 
tions of  the  spirit  of  evil,  rising  from  death,  reascend- 
ing  into  heaven,  and  becoming  judge  of  the  dead.  As 
representative  of  the  sun  the  festivals  appointed  in  his 
honor  were  fixed  in  accordance  with  the  seasons,  his 
birth  being  at  the  end  of  the  winter  solstice ;  his  death 
at  the  spring  equinox ;  his  rising  soon  afterward,  and 
then  his  ascension  into  heaven,  whence  he  showers 
down  benefits  on  man." 

The  same  author  indicates  the  Essenes  as  cherishing 
these  beliefs :  "  Deriving  their  tenets  from  the  East, 
they  believed  in  the  Pei'sian  dualism,  regarded  the  sun 
as  the  impersonation  of  the  Supreme  Light,  and  wor- 
shipped it  in  a  modified  way."  He  adds :  "  To  the 
sect  of  the  Essenes  the  originals  of  John  the  Baptist 
and  Jesus  must  have  belonged." 

"  We  may  possess  a  trustworthy  account  of  the  spirit 
that  was  in  Jesus,"  he  says  again,  "and  yet  be  alto- 
gether in  the  dark  respecting  his  precise  sayings  and 
doings.  The  condition  of  the  world  at  this  period 
being  such  as  I  have  described,  it  was  inevitable  that 
any  impressive  personality  whose  career  enabled  such 
things,  with  however  small  a  modicum  of  truth,  to  be 
predicated  of  it  as  were  predicated  of  Jesus,  should  be 
seized  upon  and  appropriated  to  tlie  purposes  of  a  new 
religion.  .  .  . 

"  For  the  masses  the  spectacle  of  an  heroic  crusade 
against  the  authority,  respectability,  and  pharisaism  of 
an  established  ecclesiasticism,  combined  with  complete 


262  SKELETON  KEYS. 

self-devotion,  with  teaching  of  the  most  absohite  per- 
fection in  morals — a  perfection  readily  recognizable  by 
the  intuitive  perceptions  of  all — and  with  a  confident 
mysticism  that  seemed  to  imply  unbounded  supernat- 
ural knowledge — all  characteristics  of  the  sect  of  Es- 
senes  to  which  he  and  the  Baptist  manifestly  belonged, — 
these  were  amply  sufficient  to  win  belief  in  Jesus  as  a 
divine  personage.  And  especially  so  when  they  found 
him  persistently  reported  not  only  as  having  performed 
miracles  in  his  life,  but  as  having  shown  that  tradi- 
tional superiority  to  all  the  limitation  of  humanity 
which  was  ascribed  to  their  previous  divinities  by 
rising  from  the  dead  and  ascending  into  heaven.  Fa- 
miliar as  they  were  with  the  notion  of  incarnations  in 
which  the  sun  played  a  principal  part,  and  accustomed 
to  associate  such  events  with  virgin  mothers  impreg- 
nated by  deities,  births  in  stables  or  caves,  hazardous 
careers  in  the  exercise  of  benevolence,  violent  deaths, 
and  descents  into  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  resurrec- 
tions and  ascensions  into  heaven,  to  be  followed  by  the 
descent  of  blessings  upon  mankind, — it  required  but 
the  suggestion  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  a  new  and 
nobler  incarnation  of  the  Deity,  who  had  so  often  before 
been  incarnate  and  put  to  death  for  man's  salvation,  to 
transfer  to  him  the  whole  paraphernalia  of  doctrine  and 
rite  deemed  appropriate  to  the  office." 

There  appears  no  reasonable  doubt  of  the  relation- 
ship of  Jesus  to  the  Essenean  brothers.  Not  only  does 
the  name  itself  imply  a  personification  of  that  peculiar 
people,  but  he  is  represented  as  uttering  their  distinct- 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  263 

ive  doctrines.  In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  he  re- 
quired from  his  disciples,  as  did  the  Essenean  teachers, 
a  righteousness  exceeding  that  of  the  Scribes  and  Phar- 
isees; and  the  Beatitudes  are  distinctly  of  the  same 
character.  He  prohibits  the  oath,  as  the  Esseneans 
also  did,  enjoined  non-resistance  to  violent  assault  and 
forgiveness  of  injuries,  and  exhorted  to  take  no  thought 
for  the  morrow,  which  he  described  as  serving  Mam- 
mon. He  also  charged  against  divulging  the  interior 
doctrines,  comparing  it  to  giving  the  holy  bread  to 
dogs  and  casting  pearls  to  the  swine,  the  latter  treading 
the  precious  jewels  under  foot  and  the  dogs  turning  to 
rend  the  giver.  Indeed,  the  whole  discourse  is  one 
which  a  teacher  of  the  fraternity  would  deliver  to  can- 
didates. "  These  things,"  he  declares,  "  are  hid  from 
the  wise  and  prudent,  but  are  revealed  to  babes." 
When  his  disciples  demur  at  his  rigid  tenets  in  regard 
to  marriage,  permitting  divorce  only  for  lewdness  or 
false  religion,  he  sanctions  their  inference  that  it  is  not 
good  to  marry.  "  He  that  is  able  to  receive  this  doc- 
trine," added  he,  "  let  him  receive  it."  To  the  young 
man  who  desired  to  know  the  way  to  perfection  he  first 
gave  a  reproof  for  calling  him  good  when  there  was  no 
one  so  but  the  one  God,  and  then  commanded  him  to 
sell  all  his  possessions  and  give  to  the  poor,  probably 
meaning  the  Ehionim.  In  the  parable  in  Luke  the 
rich  man  after  death  is  tormented,  while  the  other,  the 
ptochos  or  Ebionite  Lazarus,  is  compensated  in  the  lap 
of  Abraham.  Yet  except  the  few  cases  when  the  terms 
"brethren"   and   "disciple"  are  used  there  are  few 


264  SKELETON  KEYS. 

direct  references  to  the  Essenes.  But  he  is  continually 
exhorting  against  the  doctrine  of  the  Pharisees  and 
Sadduc6es,  and  denouncing  the  former.  Meanwhile, 
he  nowhere  fills  a  page  in  history.  He  has  left  no 
mark  of  his  individual  existence. 

We  have  observed  that  Judaism  was  chiefly  the 
counterpart  of  Persian  Mazdaism,  the  Supreme  Being, 
the  seven  Araesha-spentas,  Yazatas,  Evil  Spirit  and 
devas,  being  reproduced  in  Jehovah  with  his  angels 
and  seven  archangels,  Satan  and  his  wicked  crew. 
Essenism,  in  turn,  appears  to  have  been  a  form  of  the 
Persian  religion,  including  the  worship  of  the  sun, 
astral  and  prophetic  doctrines,  occult  science,  a  cultus 
and  sacraments;  and  as  the  Persian  doctrines  were 
ascribed  to  the  unknown  Zarathustra,  so  those  of  the 
Essenean  brotherhood  are  personified  in  the  character 
of  a  gifted  teacher,  born  on  the  natal  day  of  Mithras, 
inculcating  truth  and  right  action,  and  in  every  way 
representing  and  personifying  the  religious  system. 
This  was,  as  has  been  observed,  a  common  practice  in 
former  times.  As  soon  as  we  consider  Jesiis  as  Essen- 
ism personified  we  find  the  difficulties  vanish  which 
every  other  theory  presents.  But  Essenism  was  much 
older  than  the  Christian  era,  despite  the  pretense  of 
Eusebius  of  the  absolute  identity  of  Essenes  and  the 
early  Christians.  We  may  also  remark  that  there  are 
fragments  of  books  in  existenoe  which  treat  of  a  Jew, 
the  son  of  a  soldier  and  temple-woman,  who  exhibits 
characteristics  of  the  Jesus  of  the  Gospels  sufficient  to 
intimate  the  identity  of  the  two.     They  place  his  career 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  265 

in  the  time  of  the  earlier  Asraonean  kings,  about  the 
period  when  the  Essenes  are  first  mentioned  by  that 
name.  We  do  not  attach  great  importance  to  these 
works,  except  for  the  fact  that  they  would  not  have 
appeared,  unless  there  had  existed  a  comprehensive 
account  of  some  kind,  parabolic  or  historic,  to  sug- 
gest their  preparation.  The  Toidoth  Jeshu,  or  Genera- 
tions of  Jesus,  to  which  we  refer,  has  several  charac- 
teristics which  are  worth  noting.  The  father  of  Jesus, 
being  a  soldier,  probably  denoted  a  "  soldier  of  Mith- 
ras," and  the  alma  or  Blessed  Virgin,  a  Hebrew  maiden 
set  apart  for  a  time,  as  was  the  practice  for  young  maids 
in  Athens,  to  work  and  be  initiated  at  the  temple.  It 
is  also  asserted  that  Jesus  spent  a  season  in  Egypt, 
where  he  learned  magic.  The  Therapeutse  had  com- 
munes in  that  country  as  well  as  in  Arabia  and  Pales- 
tine, and  were  addicted  to  the  study  of  medical  know- 
ledge, astrology,  and  other  arts,  which,  being  derived 
from  the  Magi  or  priest-caste  of  the  East,  were  denom- 
inated magic.  This  term  originally  carried  with  it  no 
reproachful  meaning,  but  meant  all  learning  of  a  liberal 
character,  and  occult  science  was  only  such  knowledge 
as  was  considered  too  sacred  for  profane  individuals. 
"  He  who  pours  water  into  a  muddy  well,"  says  Jam- 
blichus,  "  does  but  disturb  the  mud."  Doubtless  the 
primitive  Essenean  gospel  described  Jesus  as  a  young 
man  of  rare  qualities,  the  son  of  a  Mithraic  or  Esse- 
nean adept,  who  was  instructed  at  the  school  of  Alex- 
andria or  in  the  priest-colleges  of  ancient  Egypt,  and 
became  expert  in  the  technic  of  religious  and  scientific 


266  SKELETON  KEYS. 

wisdom.  Thus,  the  great  Siddartha  was  taught  by  the 
Jaina  sage  Mahavira  before  he  became  himself  a  teacher 
and  a  sage.  As  the  sacraments  of  the  Church  are  like 
the  observances  of  the  Essenes  and  those  which  are 
also  celebrated  at  the  Mithraic  initiations,  this  is  abun- 
dantly plausible.  The  departure  made  by  Paul  and 
others  from  the  methods  of  the  order  afford  the  reason 
for  the  assigned  origin  of  Christianity  at  the  period 
known  as  the  "year  of  our  Lord,"  Anno  Domini. 

The  original  books  from  which  the  Gospels  were 
compiled  have  perished.  There  was  a  Gospel  in  the 
possession  of  the  Ebionites  carefully  guarded  as  a  sa- 
cred or  arcane  book,  a  copy  of  which  Jerome  procured 
wnth  great  difficulty,  but  which  has  since  been  lost  and 
forgotten.  The  sect  disappeared,  melting  away  into  the 
church  or  the  synagogue,  and  we  now  read  of  them 
loaded  with  the  opprobrious  slanders  of  Irenaeus  and 
Epiphanius.  They  were  the  original  disciples  in  Judea, 
and  were  subjected,  in  common  with  other  Jews,  to  the 
hardships  and  persecutions  which  followed  upon  the 
destruction  of  the  national  polity.  This  Hebrew  Gos- 
pel and  such  writings  as  the  Catholic  Epistles  of  James 
and  Peter  contained  their  peculiar  doctrines.  They 
regarded  Jesus  as  a  teacher  or  exemplar,  but  not  as  a 
superhuman  being  in  any  sense  of  the  term.  That 
notion  came  from  the  pagans. 

Indeed,  it  was  not  their  belief  that  such  a  man  had 
literally  existed.  The  Doketse  (or  Illusionists)  held  that 
he  was  a  symbolic  being,  an  ideality.  The  Gnostics  gen- 
erally, whom  Gibbon  describes  as  "  the  most  polite,  the 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  267 

most  learned,  and  most  wealthy  of  the  Christian  name," 
described  him  as  an  aion  or  spiritual  principle ;  and 
considered  the  crucifixion  as  metaphorical  and  not  a 
literal  event.  The  real  Christ,  Chrestos  or  divine 
principle,  they  regarded  as  still  in  heaven,  intact. 

The  apostle  Paul  was  the  great  innovator  upon  the 
Ebionite  and  Essenean  doctrines.  He  was  too  broad 
and  far-seeing  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the  exclusive- 
ness  of  Judaism  would  arrest  any  universal  dissemi- 
nation of  the  faith  in  the  world.  Hence  he  struck  out 
boldly  on  his  own  account.  He  had  a  gospel,  he  de- 
clares to  the  Galatians,  which  he  had  received  from  no 
man ;  it  was  not  "  according  to  any  man,"  but  a  dis- 
tinct, differentiated  matter,  the  apocalypse  of  Jesus 
Christ.  "  Let  the  man,  or  even  angel,  that  preaches 
any  other  gospel  be  anathema,"  he  declares.  He  did 
not  hesitate  to  denounce  the  Ebionist  apostles,  nor  they 
in  turn  to  set  him  forth  as  an  impostor,  holding  the 
doctrine  of  Balaam  and  teaching  faith  without  works 
or  rites.  At  Antioch  he  withstood  Peter  to  the  face, 
and  declares  him  condemned.  Writing  to  the  Cor- 
inthians, he  denounces  the  schisms  and  deprecates  the 
influence  of  Apollos,  a  Jew  from  Alexandria.  "I, 
the  wise  architect,  have  laid  the  foundation,"  says  he, 
"  but  another  has  built  upon  it.  That  foundation  is 
Christ."  It  is  very  plain,  however,  that  the  Christ 
that  he  taught  was  rather  an  ideal  than  a  literal  per- 
sonage. "I  have  seen  the  Lord,"  he  declares,  and 
again  avows  that  he  preached  "  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
Crucified  One."     Yet  when  he  refers  to  the  death  and 


268  SKELETON  KEYS. 

resurrection  he  always  treats  of  them  as  figurative  mat- 
ters, pertaining  to  the  spiritual  and  not  to  the  corporeal 
nature.  A  Christ  that  he  had  seen  could  but  be  a 
spiritual  entity.  "  Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God,"  he  declares,  "  neither  doth  corrup- 
tion inherit  incorriiption."  This  is  a  complete  setting 
aside  of  any  gross,  literal  sense  to  be  given  to  his  lan- 
guage. Others  who  received  the  gospel  were  crucified 
as  Christ  was,  and  rose  again  to  a  new  life  while  yet 
embodied  in  mortal  flesh.  He  was  the  type,  the  model, 
the  exemplar,  and  they  who  believed  were  walking  in 
his  footsteps.  "Know  ye  not,"  he  asks  the  Roman 
believers,  "  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into 
Jesus  Christ  were  baptized  into  his  death  ?  We  then- 
are  buried  with  him  by  this  baptism  into  his  death ;  so 
that  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead,  even  so  we 
should  walk  in  a  new  life.  For  if  we  have  become 
planted  together  in  the  likeness  of  his  death,  we  are 
also,  on  the  other  hand,  in  that  of  his  resurrection : 
knowing  this,  that  our  old  man  was  crucified  together, 
that  the  body  of  sin  might  be  made  inert,  that  we  may 
no  longer  be  enslaved  to  sin.  If  we  died  with  Christ, 
we  believe  that  we  will  also  live  to  him ;  being  aware 
that  Christ  having  risen  from  the  dead  is  no  longer 
dying,  death  no  longer  rules  him.  For  wherein  he 
died,  he  died  to  sin  once  for  all ;  but  wherein  he 
lives,  he  lives  to  God.  So  likewise  reckon  ye 
yourselves  dead  to  sin,  but  alive  to  God  in  Christ 
Jesus." 

A  spiritual  crucifixion,  death,  and  resurrection,  in 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  269 

strict  analogy  with  the  equinoctial  crucifixion,  death, 
and  resurrection  of  the  mystic  rites,  is  the  foremost 
idea  of  this  passage.  The  baptism  of  Jesus  in  the 
river  Jordan  and  his  forty  days'  temptation  in  the 
wilderness  were  of  the  same  character.  There  was  no 
literal  dying  signified  in  the  case.  Indeed,  nobody 
knew  better  than  Paul  that  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim  did 
not  sit  and  that  capital  punishments  were  not  inflicted 
at  the  period  of  the  Passover,  the  day  of  the  crucifix- 
ion, being,  according  to  the  law,  "  a  day  of  holy  convo- 
cation." The  crucifixion  being  figurative  and  suggested 
by  an  astrological  period,  we  are  fully  warranted  in  the 
hypothesis  that  the  victim  likewise  was  a  symbolic  per- 
sonage of  an  astral  character. 

This  ideal  Jesus,  with  the  emphatic  but  ambiguous 
phrase  of  Paul — "  Him  crucified  " — was  not  sufficient 
for  the  exigencies  of  the  Christian  leaders  of  the  subse- 
quent century.  The  Gnostics  and  other  cultured  men 
were  satisfied,  but  the  lower  classes  wanted  a  more 
tangible  character,  a  physical  corporeity.  The  great 
want,  therefore,  was  some  proof  of  the  literal  existence 
of  the  individual  by  the  evidence  of  men  that  had  seen 
him  and  been  familiar  with  him.  This  was  now  fur- 
nished by  the  production  of  the  three  synoptic  Gospels 
and  their  adoption  in  the  place  of  other  evangelical 
literature.  Afterward,  Irenseus  or  some  one  with  his 
approval  added  the  Gospel  according  to  John.  The 
fiction  of  an  apostolic  succession  was  then  originated, 
and  forgery  for  religious  purposes  was  a  general  prac- 
tice.    The  quarrels  of  Christians  with  Christians  were 


270  SKELETON  KEYS. 

for  centuries  more  scandalous  than  all  the  atrocities  of 
actual  martyrdom. 

Previous  to  this  the  Church  had  labored  indefati- 
gably  and  successfully  to  destroy  the  influence  and  rep- 
utation of  Paul.  He  was  now  taken  into  favor ;  his 
Epistles  were  revised,  interpolated,  toned  down,  and 
accepted  as  canonical.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  was 
next  produced.  It  is  a  work  in  two  parts — one  set 
apart  to  the  story  of  the  apostle  Peter,  and  the  other 
to  the  achievements  of  Paul.  The  purpose  evidently 
was  to  indicate  that  the  two  were  not  at  variance,  but 
M^ere  laborers  in  the  same  field.  The  work  of  harmon- 
izing must  have  been  difficult.  In  our  day  it  would 
not  have  been  possible.  Books  cannot  be  got  out  of 
the  way  as  in  former  centuries,  and  inconsistencies  of 
writers  are  sure  to  be  exposed. 

Justin  Martyr  lived  at  Rome  in  the  reign  of  the 
Antonines  and  wrote  a  Defence  of  the  Christians.  Yet 
he  makes  no  mention  of  "  St.  Peter  the  first  bishop." 
He  had  never  heard  of  him.  Irenseus,  however,  did 
not  hesitate  to  say  anything  to  advance  the  gospel,  and 
accordingly  boldly  asserts  that  Peter  and  Paul  founded 
the  church  at  Pome ;  overlooking  their  reciprocal  ani- 
mosity, and  the  fact  that  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Romans  adresses  the  "  saints,"  but  makes  no  mention 
of  a  church.  Claudius  had  banished  the  Jews  from 
Rome  for  their  turbulent  conduct  under  the  instigations 
of  Chrestos,  and  the  emperors  Trajan  and  Adrian  seem 
to  have  known  of  Christians  only  from  information 
which  they  had  derived  solely  from  the  provinces  in 


THE  DRAMA  OF  THE  GOSPELS.  271 

the  East.  But  all  this  made  no  difficulty  for  Irenseus. 
This  French  prelate  also  declared  that  the  ministry  of 
Jesus  lasted  upward  of  ten  years ;  also  that  he  lived  to 
be  an  elderly  man.  The  anachronisms  and  bad  geog- 
raphy of  the  Gospels  are  notorious,  but  they  do  not 
compare  with  the  absurdities  of  Irenseus.  He  invented 
the  name  Antichrist,  and  hurled  it  with  ferocious  rage 
whenever  he  had  been  assailed  and  hard  pushed  in 
controversy.  He  was  never  so  much  in  his  element 
as  when  quarrelling ;  and  his  designation  of  Irenseus 
(a  man  of  peace)  is  one  of  the  most  stupendous  mis- 
nomere  ever  heard  of. 

We  have  alluded  to  the  fact  that  passages  had  been 
interpolated  into  the  Epistles  of  Paul.  The  object  was 
to  harmonize  the  Logos  of  Philo  and  his  school  with  the 
Christ  or  Chrestos  of  the  apostle.  It  would  have  been 
a  futile  attempt  if  it  had  been  made  when  Paul  was 
castigating  the  Corinthian  Christians  in  regard  to 
Apollos.  A  dead  man's  words,  however,  can  be  mu- 
tilated and  perverted  without  his  resistance.  We 
accordingly  find  the  sturdy  Hebrew  diction  of  the 
apostle  interlarded  with  Gnostic  utterances,  and  new 
epistles  purporting  to  have  been  written  by  him  which 
give  a  different  complexion  to  his  doctrines.  The 
pleroma  or  fulness  which  is  treated  of  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Ephesians  was  taken  bodily  from  the  Gnostics. 
The  pre-existence  of  Christ  as  the  Creator  of  the  world 
was  asserted  in  a  spurious  document  purporting  to  be 
a  letter  from  him  to  the  Colossians,  and  interpolations 
of  a  corresponding  nature  were  made  in  the  genuine 


272  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Corinthian  Epistles.  Thus  in  the  famous  chapter  on 
the  resurrection  we  find  the  following  sentiment  of 
Philo  in  an  amplified  form  :  "  Man,  being  freed  by  the 
Logos  (or  Word)  from  all  corruption,  shall  be  entitled 
to  immortality." 

Gibbon  has  shown  us  that  the  first  regular  church 
government  was  instituted  at  Alexandria.  This  is  in 
keeping  with  the  other  facts.  The  dogmas  of  an  incar- 
nate God,  of  the  Trinity,  and  the  sacred  character  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  were  all  introduced  into  the  creed 
by  the  influence  of  the  Alexandrians,  and  it  would 
therefore  seem  to  be  legitimately  their  right  to  institute 
the  government.  We  have  noticed  already  that  the 
Therapeutse  of  that  country  had  offices  with  similar 
titles  and  functions  as  those  now  possessed  by  officers 
of  the  Church,  and  as  they  and  the  Christians  were 
closely  allied,  we  have  good  reason  for  the  belief  that 
they  had  united  with  the  new  organization  in  such 
numbers  as  to  outvote  the  original  members.  Cer- 
tain it  is,  that  thenceforth  the  names  of  Essenes  and 
TherajjeutsB  occurred  no  more.  But  the  sect  which 
gave  shape  to  the  concept  had  thus,  to  a  certain 
degree  at  least,  resumed  control  over  the  whole 
matter. 

That  such  an  individual  as  Jesus  Christ  ever  lived  is 
entirely  without  proof  from  history.  We  find  Josephus 
making  mention  of  one  and  another  who  acquired  no- 
toriety. He  describes  Judas  of  Galilee  as  the  founder 
of  a  fourth  philosophic  sect,  and  tells  of  Jesus  the  son 
of  Hanan  who  predicted  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 


THE  DRAMA  OF  THE  GOSPELS.  273 

and  its  temple  years  before  it  occurred.  We  observe 
similarity  enough  in  his  utterances  to  those  of  the 
twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Matthew,  and  in  his  deport- 
ment when  brought  before  the  Roman  governor  to  that 
described  in  the  Gospels,  to  warrant  some  little  sur- 
mise of  identity  with  the  Jesus  of  the  Gospels.  But 
of  Jesus  as  the  founder  of  the  Christian  religion,  or 
more  properly  the  Ebionite  sect,  we  have  no  such  de- 
lineation. Of  him  we  have  only  an  utterance  which 
is  a  palpable  forgery. 

This  preaching  of  Jesus  as  a  veritable  individual  of 
like  passions  with  other  men,  having  a  will  not  always 
consonant  with  the  divine  will,  and  yet  divine  in  qual- 
ities and  attributes,  has  been  very  justly  "  to  the  Jews 
a  stumbling-block  and  to  the  Greeks  foolishness." 
Intelligent  men,  however  reverent  and  impartial,  have 
been  compelled  to  dissent.  The  fanatic  Tertullian  in 
declaring  his  own  position  gave  utterance  to  what  many 
felt  to  be  the  substance  of  the  whole  matter :  "  I  rev- 
erence it  because  it  is  contemptible ;  I  adore  it  because 
it  is  absurd ;  I  believe  it  because  it  is  impossible." 
We  are  outgrowing  a  faith  and  veneration  so  utterly 
childlike  as  to  be  fatuity  itself. 

If  we  search  for  Jesus  at  Nazareth  in  Galilee,  we 
shall  not  find  a  footprint.  If,  however,  we  look  for 
him  in  the  testimonies  of  the  Nazarim  and  Essenes  as 
the  personification  of  their  school  of  philosophic  thought, 
thus  representing  in  concept  the  emanation  of  God  and 
the  evolution  of  man  as  a  spiritual  being,  we  shall  see 
him  as  he  is.     Hence  to  surrender  the  popular  notion 

18 


274  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  a  literal  man  as  an  infallible  teacher  and  exemplar 
is  not  to  renounce  anything  that  is  vital  in  truth.  We 
will  only  dispense  with  the  paganism  and  man-wor- 
ship. We  eliminate  the  sensuous  imagery,  but  preserve 
intact  the  life,  the  power,  and  the  energy.  The  par- 
ables and  aphorisms  which  are  in  the  Gospels  are  as 
true,  as  wholesome,  and  inspiring  as  ever.  Jesus  the 
ideal  represents,  and  will  continue  to  represent,  all  that 
was  implied  in  the  arcane  religions  in  the  East.  Upon 
this  ground,  therefore,  it  is  well  that  Christianity  in  its 
external  forms  as  well  as  in  its  esoteric  principles  should 
supplant  the  other  worships.  It  repeats  what  there  is 
of  value  in  them,  and  at  the  same  time  it  comes  more 
closely  home  to  the  higher  consciousness.  In  the  per- 
sonification of  Jesus  the  true  ideal  of  our  humanity  is 
suggested.  We  are  born  of  our  earthly  father  and 
mother,  whose  image  and  name  we  accordingly  inherit, 
and  we  have  to  pass  through  the  pains  and  throes  of  a 
second  birth  as  children  of  the  celestial  parent.  This 
was  outlined  distinctly  by  symbols  in  the  initiations, 
and  the  successful  candidate,  having  overcome  in  the 
trial,  was  enthroned  and  acknowledged  as  the  son  of 
the  Most  High.  Hence  Jesus  sets  forth  in  the  Gospel 
the  last  disclosure  of  the  Essenean  rite  :  "  Call  no  man 
father  on  the  earth,  for  one  is  your  Father ;  he  is  in  the 
heavens;  and  you  are  brothers."  Paul  repeats  the 
sentiment  in  other  words  :  "  As  many  as  are  led  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God ;  heirs  of  God 
and  joint-heirs  with  Christ."  This  idea,  often  too 
much  lost  sight  of,  lies  at  the  core  of  all  real  know- 


THE  DRAMA   OF  THE  GOSPELS.  275 

ledge.  The  end  of  all  worship,  all  philosophic  dis- 
cipline, and  all  religious  teaching  is  to  open  the  way 
in  every  mind  to  a  higher  perception  and  a  profounder 
conscientiousness. 

Yet  the  suggestion  of  the  angel  at  the  sepulchre  is 
pertinent — that  we  forbear  to  seek  for  the  living  among 
the  dead.  The  real  enlightenment  of  mankind  comes 
not  from  teachers,  but  only  from  the  fountains  of  inte- 
rior illumination.  We  have  no  call  or  occasion  to  go 
to  this  man  or  to  that  man  as  a  leader.  It  may  be  the 
province  of  individuals  to  stand  out  conspicuously  in 
order  to  indicate  the  next  advance  to  be  made.  But 
when  each  has  thus  performed  his  service,  his  glory  is 
outshone  by  the  refulgent  light  which  he  has  induced 
others  to  seek  and  obtain. 

We  require  no  display  of  spiritual  pyrotechnics. 
Enough  for  us  that  there  is  truth,  and  that  we  have 
the  intellect  to  perceive  it — that  there  is  right,  and  we 
have  the  will  to  obey  it.  Neither  a  human  God  nor  a 
divine  man  can  enlighten  us  further  than  this.  There 
are  freedom  and  impulse  for  us  to  attain  the  highest 
degree  of  illumination  of  which  we  are  capable.  The 
human  aspiration  soars  beyond  the  path  of  the  light- 
ning. In  every  noble  idea,  every  worthy  desire,  we 
have  a  mediator  with  God.  The  more  silent  the  work, 
the  more  certain  that  the  principle  of  all  life  is  per- 
forming it.  In  this  is  our  eternity,  and  there  is 
nothing  beyond. 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

THE  IDEAL  CHRIST. 

"What  think  ye  of  Christ?    Whose  son  was  he?" — Matt. 

22  :  42. 

Nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  (1868)  a  very- 
remarkable  pamphlet  was  published  by  request  of  the 
Free  Religious  Association,  written  by  that  remarkable 
man,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  a  Unitarian  minister 
and  an  author  of  no  little  repute.  The  subject  was 
Tlie  Worship  of  Jesus.  It  had  a  very  limited  circula- 
tion, and  the  stereotype  plates  were  destroyed  in  the 
great  Boston  fire,  and  it  is  now  very  difficult  to  find  a 
copy. 

Mr.  Johnson  takes  the  ground  that  "  Christianity  is 
a  temporary  step  in  the  divine  growth  of  man  through 
the  worship  of  the  ideal ;  and  this  hope  lies,  not  in 
pausing  on  this  step  as  final,  nor  in  proving  the  names 
and  personalities  associated  with  it  to  be  as  valid  for 
ever  as  they  have  been  in  the  past,  but  in  that  which 
underlies  and  governs  the  whole  process — the  law  of 
religiouLS  idealization. 

"  This  is  no  speculation  ;  it  is  the  positive  law  of 
progress,  as  history  presents  it.  To  worship  ideals  is 
the  condition  of  spiritual  life.     To  lose  belief  that  there 

276 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  277 

is  somewhere  a  better  than  ourselves  is  to  gravitate 
downward  to  what  is  worse  than  ourselves.  We  grow 
better  by  definite  homage  to  a  best.  And  this  worship 
of  ideals  is  a  process  of  idealization.  .  .  .  Man's  power 
of  growth,  therefore,  resides  in  the  ability  to  shift  his 
veneration.  .  .  . 

"Ideals  prove  themselves  to  be  idealizations,  that 
they  may  point  him  on  to  higher  levels.  This  is  re- 
ligious progress.  .  .  . 

"  So  a  time  comes  when  every  religion  that  centres 
in  an  individual's  prerogative  of  divinity  falls  under 
criticism,  and  is,  so  far,  referred  to  temporary  causes. 
Christianity  cannot  escape  this  law.  As  a  distinct  re- 
ligion it  is  but  Christism,  and  passes  away,  like  Jeho- 
vism,  before  a  broader  faith.  Whether  what  succeeds 
it  be  called  Theism  or  Pantheism,  this  terminology  of 
systems  fails  to  express  its  scope.  It  is  free  worship 
of  the  one  infinite  and  eternal  life  of  the  spiritual, 
moral,  and  physical  universe.  .  .  . 

"  How,  then,  did  the  concentration  of  the  religious 
sentiment  upon  Jesus  originate?  Not,  as  the  Church 
insists,  in  the  undeniable  rights  of  a  perfect  Being  to 
the  everlasting  allegiance  of  mankind,  for  there  is  no 
evidence  of  his  perfection,  intellectual  or  spiritual,  but 
in  the  fact  that  the  religious  sentiment,  at  a  certain 
stage  of  its  historical  progress,  demanded  a  single  hu- 
man centre,  and  knew  how  to  satisfy  its  own  demand 
by  its  own  process  of  idealization. 

"  The  ideal  itself  was  sent  in  the  soul  of  the  age.  It 
was  bound  to  do  what  it  would  with  its  materials  by 


278  SKELETON  KEYS. 

its  own  divine  gift.  It  was  the  creative  force  of  tlie 
time.  It  is  not  the  whole  truth  to  say  with  Merivale, 
then,  that  *  the  religion  of  Christ  seized  and  developed, 
with  a  divine  energy,  the  latent  yearnings  of  mankind 
for  social  combination,  having  for  its  essence,  in  a  hu- 
man point  of  view,  the  doctrine  of  the  equality  of  man/ 
Rather  did  that  religion  catch  a  spirit  of  universality 
already  abroad  in  the  age — not  latent,  but  mighty  to 
transform  society,  to  inspire  both  Hebrew  Messiah  and 
Gentile  philosopher,  to  make  its  god  in  its  own  image, 
and  to  transform  the  little  Jewish  sect  at  last  into  a 
Church  of  civilization.  .  .  . 

"  And  this,  at  least,  is  sure ;  always  there  is  a  man 
for  the  hour.  Somehow  or  other,  a  great  demand  will 
find  satisfaction.  But  the  man  is  not  what  the  hour 
reports  him  when  it  has  crowned  him  with  all  that 
faith  and  fancy  can  bestow,  and  set  up,  through  him, 
its  own  special  demand  as  valid  for  all  time.  Future 
ages  will  revise,  from  a  freer  standpoint,  the  image  it 
transmits  for  their  adoration.  .  .  . 

"  The  earliest  types  and  emblems  of  Christ-worship 
betray  this  powerful  element  in  its  origination.  Jesus 
is  represented  in  the  form  of  the  old  deities  and  in  con- 
junction with  them.  Between  the  images  of  Mercury 
Criophorus  and  Apollo  Nomius,  and  that  of  the  '  Good 
Shepherd,'  the  transition  is  so  gradual  that  it  is  hard 
to  decide  whether  the  picture  is  pagan  or  Christian. 
In  the  Catacombs  Jesus  sits  as  Pluto  on  the  judgment- 
seat,  with  Mary  as  Proserpine,  while  Mercury  leads  in 
souls.     Still  earlier  emblems  of  Jesus,  the  Lamb,  the 


THE  IDEAL   CHRIST.  279 

Fisli,  tlie  Ship,  the  Cross,  the  Dove,  are  all  associated 
with  older  heathen  mysteries  or  mythological  beliefs, 
as  are  also  the  Christian  festivals  and  rites. 

"  And  so  the  idealization  of  Jesus  went  on  steadily 
and  consistently  till  it  reached  deification.  The  early 
Christian  *  apologists '  ridiculed  the  human  gods  of  the 
old  polytheism,  yet  they  did  but  concentrate  the  same 
principle  more  perfectly  in  the  form  of  their  Christ. 
Hebrew  monotheism  was  indeed  too  strong  in  Paul  to 
allow  of  his  finding  in  Jesus  more  than  a  man  in  whom 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelt.  But  this  hovers 
very  close  upon  the  larger  desire  of  the  nations.  And 
later,  in  the  Gospel  of  John,  the  Gentile  current  has 
absorbed  the  Hebrew  and  the  call  for  a  God-man  is 
boldly  met.  A  life  of  Jesus  is  here  dramatically  con- 
structed, not  out  of  historical  facts,  nor  even  traditions, 
but  out  of  that  preconceived  ideal  of  an  incarnate  word 
attaching  itself,  in  its  longing  for  actual  and  living  sub- 
stance, to  the  growing  prestige  of  his  name.  .  .  . 

"  The  records  of  Jesus'  life  have  had  to  be  idealized 
also;  and  these  are  not,  like  his  person,  so  dim  and 
veiled  as  to  leave  the  religious  imagination  a  certain 
margin  of  freedom,  however  inadequate,  but  a  definite 
statement  of  doctrines,  doings,  and  claims;  so  that 
science,  philosophy,  art,  and  morality  have  been  taught 
to  bow  in  his  name  to  the  limitations  of  half-developed 
times  and  men. 

"  It  is  not  denied  that  by  leaving  out  what  we  dis- 
like we  can  find  in  the  New-Testament  Jesus  as  noble 
an  ideal  as  we  will,  though  it  can  be  only  of  a  purely 


280  SKELETON  KEYS. 

interior  individualism,  unrelated  to  practical  and  po- 
litical functions.  But  we  cannot  ignore  the  many 
sources,  apart  from  the  real  life  of  Jesus,  from  which 
this  feast  of  good  things  has  been  derived.  The  New 
Testament  is,  in  fact,  not  so  much  the  record  of  a  life 
as  the  fruit  of  two  ancient  civilizations,  the  Oriental 
and  Greek,  of  whose  confluence  Christianity  itself  was 
the  product.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  urged  that  we  destroy  the  basis  of  religious 
unity  when  we  take  away  this  historical  and  personal 
centre  of  faith.  Men  absolutely  need,  it  is  said,  that 
concrete  form,  that  individuality,  under  which  the 
divine  is  represented  to  them  in  the  Christ.  There 
would  be  more  cause  for  this  anxiety  if  it  could  be 
shown  that  they  have  ever  possessed  such  a  centre. 
But  what  have  they  had,  after  all,  but  a  common  name 
for  ever-changing  ideals?  The  belief  that  all  eyes 
were  turned  to  a  common  authoritative  centre  was  an 
illusion,  which  had  its  uses,  indeed,  but  becomes  a 
breeder  of  strife  in  proportion  as  men  learn  the  rights 
of  free  inquiry.  *  Worship  the  Christ !  follow  Jesus  !' 
cry  the  ages.  But  who  is  Jesus?  and  what  is  the 
Christ?  The  Jesus  of  Matthew  is  one,  the  Christ  of 
John  is  another,  the  '  second  Adam '  of  Paul  is  a  third. 
The  moral  as  well  as  the  theological  contents  of  the 
name  vary  with  the  ages  and  the  sects  that  appeal  to 
it.  As  the  Christ  of  Luther  was  not  the  Christ  of 
Augustine,  nor  his  the  Christ  of  James,  so  the  Christ 
of  the  Unitarian  is  one,  of  the  Calvinist  another. 
Whom  the  one  will  save,  the  other  will  destroy ;  what 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  281 

to  the  one  is  moral  wrong,  to  the  other  is  divine  right ; 
what  love  would  require  in  the  one,  justice  would  fore- 
close in  the  other.  What  common  centre  can  the  lib- 
eral Bible  scholars  and  the  panic-stricken,  text-ridden 
Revivalists  find  in  the  name  of  Christ  ?  All  the  warring 
sects  have  been  '  standing  up  for  Jesus ;'  and  which  of 
them  knows  what  Jesus  was?  The  farther  you  get 
back  toward  the  original,  the  less  sure  do  you  feel  of 
your  own  knowledge,  and  the  less  right  should  you 
feel  from  what  you  know  in  part  to  assume  that  you 
have  found  the  appointed  centre  of  religious  thought. 
It  would  be  easy  to  show  that  unity  is  impossible  so 
long  as  it  is  sought  to  found  it  on  the  claims  of  a  per- 
son to  that  position,  since  the  mysterious  irrationality 
of  such  an  office  must  keep  the  speculative  faculties  of 
mankind  in  ceaseless  self-contradiction  and  strife.  It 
would  be  easy  to  show  that  this  claim  of  Jesus  has  been 
the  perpetual  root  of  dogmatic  warfare — that  all  barbar- 
ism of  the  Christian  Church  in  past  ages  has  come  of 
jealousy  about  the  honor  due  the  person  of  the  Christ." 
We  offer  no  appology  for  these  long  extracts  from 
Mr.  Johnson's  inimitable  little  book  of  ninety  pages. 
"  He  being  dead  yet  speaketh,"  and  his  words  give  no 
uncertain  sound.  He  was  in  advance  of  the  times, 
and  if  his  brethren  in  the  Unitarian  ministry  would 
regard  Jesus,  whom  they  almost  deify,  as  an  ideal 
(quite  imperfect)  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  pagan 
peoples,  and  cease  to  court  the  favor  of  the  ortliodox, 
they  would  have  more  self-respect  and  more  real  regard 
from  the  thinking  men  of  the  age. 


282  SKELETON  KEYS. 

We  might  as  well  now  come  directly  to  the  question 
whether  the  Jesus  of  the  Gospels  was  an  ideal  rather 
than  a  historical  individual — an  impersonation  rather 
than  a  person.  And  here  we  take  the  broad  ground 
that  whether  there  was  a  real  man  or  not  makes  no 
difference  whatever,  because  the  writings  themselvas 
are  largely  ideal,  and  so  make  the  man  what  he  was 
not.  No  two  persons  worship  the  same  God,  the 
"personified  Infinite."  'The  conception  of  God  must 
itself  be  limited  and  incomplete,  and  therefore  inad- 
equate and  largely  ideal.  No  two  persons  believe  in 
the  same  Jesus,  so  there  must  be  as  many  ideals  as  there 
are  believers.  The  habit  of  exaggerating,  of  deifying 
those  whom  we  have  been  taught  to  regard  as  the 
greatest  and  best,  is  a  well-known  disposition  of  the 
human  mind.  Indeed,  "the  function  of  the  Church 
is  the  cultivation  of  the  ideal."  This  is  so  palpable 
that  the  legends  of  all  religions  recognize  this  principle 
to  such  an  extent  that  most  of  them  represent  their 
"saviors"  as  having  been  born  of  virgin  mothers. 
Catholics  flock  to  their  temples  and  in  parrot-like 
utterances  worship  an  ideal  Jesus  and  an  equally  ideal 
Virgin,  and  thus  cultivate  only  the  ideal  side  of  their 
nature.  It  is  very  much  easier  to  excite  the  imagina- 
tion than  to  convince  the  understanding ;  and  this  is 
the  real  secret  of  the  strength  of  Catholicism  and  of 
the  weakness  of  Protestantism.  Catholic  worship  is 
mainly  spectacular,  an  appeal  to  the  senses,  and  is 
therefore  attractive  alike  to  the  uneducated  and  the 
educated.     They  believe  the  Gospels  literally,  because 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  283 

they  have  had  the  principal  incidents  recorded  in  them 
set  forth  before  their  eyes  from  their  very  birth,  and 
they  cannot  be  reasoned  out  of  what  they  have  never 
been  reasoned  into. 

But  we  are  told  that  Jesus  must  have  been  a  real 
person  or  he  never  could  have  exerted  the  influence 
that  he  has  for  the  last  eighteen  hundred  years  upon  so 
many  millions  of  people.  Let  us  see :  If  Jesus  ever 
dwelt  upon  this  earth,  it  must  have  been  several  hun- 
dred years  ago.  Not  one  of  the  many  millions  who  have 
worshipped  him  since  his  few  years  of  sojourn  here 
but  have  done  so  in  view  of  what  they  have  heard  of  him 
or  read  of  him.  They  never  saw  him  and  never  heard 
his  voice.  He  wrote  nothing,  and  never  authorized 
any  one  else  to  write  anything.  After  the  lapse  of 
nearly  two  centuries  the  four  Gospels  appeared. 
Very  little  is  told  of  him  there.  If  you  take  out 
what  is  repeated  concerning  him  therein,  you  w^ould 
not  have,  in  length,  what  would  make  a  modern  ser- 
mon ;  and  that  would  be  found  full  of  contradictions, 
absurdities,  and  impossibilities.  Those  who  have  be- 
lieved on  him  have  believed  on  what  they  called  testi- 
mony concerning  him  ;  and  that  testimony  would  hav^e 
produced  the  same  eifect  whether  true  or  false  if  they 
really  believed  it.  The  real  existence  of  an  alleged  person 
is  not  essential  to  excite  admiration  if  it  is  really  believed 
that  he  existed.  The  Swiss  loved  and  honored  William 
Tell  just  as  much  as  if  he  had  not  in  these  latter  years 
been  proved  a  myth.  The  world's  history  teems  with 
the  heroic  deeds  of  many  noble  persons  (impersonations) 


284  SKELETON  KEYS. 

who  never  had  an  existence,  and  the  literature  of  the 
race  would  greatly  suffer  by  striking  out  all  that  is 
fictitious.  The  reason  that  the  ideal  Christ  has  exerted 
so  much  greater  influence  than  any  other  impersonation 
is  because  so  many  skilful  artists  have  bestowed  their 
best  labor  upon  it,  and  because  the  figure  is  so  ancient 
and  contains  so  many  features  that  commend  themselves 
to  the  human  mind  and  heart. 

We  find  in  Natural  Genesis,  by  the  English  poet 
Gerald  Massey,  a  passage  which  so  beautifully  portrays 
our  own  view  of  this  subject  that  we  cannot  forbear 
copying  it : 

"  It  has  often  been  said  that  if  there  were  no  his- 
toric Christ  then  the  writers  who  represented  such  a 
conception  of  the  divine  man  must  have  included 
amongst  them  one  who  was  equal  to  the  Christ.  But 
the  mythical  Christ  was  not  the  outcome  of  any  such 
conception.  It  was  not  a  work  of  the  individual  mind 
at  all,  but  of  the  human  race — a  crowning  result  of 
evolution  versus  any  private  conception  of  a  hero. 
This  was  the  hero  of  all  men,  who  never  was  and  was 
never  meant  to  be  human,  but  from  the  beginning  was 
divine ;  a  mythical  hero  without  mortal  model,  and 
equally  without  fault  or  flaw.  This  was  the  star-god 
who  dawned  through  the  outermost  darkness ;  this  was 
the  moon-god  who  brought  the  message  of  renewal  and 
immortality ;  this  was  the  sun-god  who  came  with  the 
morning  to  all  men  ;  this  in  the  Kronian  stage  was  the 
announcer  of  new  life  and  endless  continuity  at  the 
opening  of  every  cycle,  and  in  the  psychotheistic  phase 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  285 

the  typical  son  of  the  Eternal  as  manifester  and  repre- 
sentative in  time. 

"  As  a  mental  model  the  Christ  was  elaborated  by 
whole  races  of  men,  and  worked  at  continually,  like  the 
Apollo  of  Greek  sculpture.  Various  nations  wrought 
at  this  ideal,  which  long-continued  repetition  evoked 
from  the  human  mind  at  last  as  it  did  the  Greek  god 
from  the  marble. 

"  Egypt  labored  at  the  portrait  for  thousands  of  years 
before  the  Greeks  added  their  finishing  touches  to  the 
type  of  the  ever-youthful  solar  god.  It  was  Egypt 
that  first  made  the  statue  live  with  her  own  life,  and 
humanized  her  ideal  of  the  divine.  Hers  was  the 
legend  of  supreme  pity  and  self-sacrifice  so  often  told 
of  the  canonical  Christ.  She  related  how  the  very  god 
did  leave  the  courts  of  heaven  and  come  down  as  a 
little  child,  the  infant  Horus  born  of  the  Virgin, 
through  whom  he  took  flesh  or  descended  into  matter, 
*  crossed  the  earth  as  a  substitute,'  descended  into 
Hades  as  the  vivifier  of  the  dead,  their  vicarious  jus- 
tifier  and  redeemer,  the  first-fruits  and  leader  of  the 
resurrection  into  eternal  life.  The  Christian  legends 
were  first  related  of  Horus,  or  Osiris,  who  was  the  em- 
bodiment of  divine  goodness,  wisdom,  truth,  and  puri- 
ty— who  personated  ideal  perfection  in  each  spliere  of 
manifestation  and  every  phase  of  power.  This  was  the 
greatest  hero  that  ever  lived  in  the  mind  of  man — not 
in  the  flesh — to  influence  with  transforming  force ;  the 
only  hero  to  whom  the  miracles  were  natural  because 
he  was  not  human.     The  canonical  Christ  onlv  needed 


286  SKELETON  KEYS. 

a  translator,  not  a  creator,  a  transcriber  of  the  '  sayings  * 
and  a  collector  of  the  '  doings '  already  ascribed  to  the 
mythical  Christ. 

"  The  humanized  history  is  but  the  mythical  drama 
made  mundane.  The  sayings  and  marvellous  doings 
of  Christ  being  pre-extant,  the  'spirit  of  Christ,'  the 
*  secret  of  Christ,  the  '  sweet  reasonableness  of  Christ ' 
were  all  pre-Cliristian,  and  consequently  could  not  be 
derived  from  any  *  personal  founder '  of  Christianity. 
They  were  extant  before  the  great  delusion  had  turned 
the  minds  of  men  and  the  figure-head  of  Peter's  bark 
had  been  mistaken  for  a  portrait  of  the  builder. 

"  The  Christ  of  the  Gospels  is  in  no  sense  an  histor- 
ical personage  or  a  supreme  model  of  humanity — a  hero 
who  strove,  and  suffered,  and  failed  to  save  the  world 
by  his  death.  It  is  impossible  to  establish  the  exist- 
ence of  an  historical  character  even  as  an  impostor. 
For  such  an  one  the  two  witnesses,  astronomical  myth- 
ology and  Gnosticism,  completely  prove  an  alibi.  The 
Christ  is  a  popular  lay  figure  that  never  lived,  and  a 
lay  figure  of  pagan  origin — a  lay  figure  that  was  once 
the  Ram  and  afterward  the  Fish ;  a  lay  figure  that  in 
human  form  was  the  portrait  and  image  of  a  dozen 
different  gods. 

"The  imagery  of  the  Catacombs  shows  that  the 
types  there  represented  are  not  the  ideal  figures  of  the 
human  reality.  They  are  the  sole  reality  of  the  centu- 
ries after  the  Christian  era,  because  they  had  been  in  the 
centuries  long  before.  The  symbolism,  the  allegories, 
the  figures,  and  types  remained  there  just  what  they 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  287 

were  to  the  Romans,  Greeks,  Persians,  and  Egyptians. 
The  iconography  of  the  Catacombs  absolutely  proves 
that  the  lay  figure,  as  Christ,  must  have  sat  for  the 
portraits  of  Osiris,  Horus  the  child,  Mithras,  Bacchus, 
Aristseus,  Apollo,  Pan,  the  Good  Shepherd.  The  lay 
figure  or  type  is  one  all  through.  The  portraits  are 
manifold,  yet  they  all  mean  the  mythical  Christ  under 
whatsoever  name. 

"  The  typical  Christ,  so  far  from  being  derived  from 
the  model  man,  has  been  made  up  from  the  features 
of  many  gods,  after  a  fashion  somewhat  similar  to 
those  'pictorial  averages'  portrayed  by  Mr.  Galton, 
in  which  the  characteristics  of  various  persons  are 
photographed  and  fused  in  a  portrait — a  composite 
likeness  of  twenty  different  persons  merged  in  one 
that  is  not  anybody. 

"  It  is  pitiful  to  track  the  poor  faithful  gleaners  who 
picked  up  every  fallen  fragment  or  scattered  waif  and 
stray  of  the  mythos,  and  to  watch  how  they  treasured 
every  trait  and  tint  of  the  ideal  Christ  to  make  up  the 
personal  portrait  of  their  own  supposed  real  one.  His 
mother,  like  the  other  forms  of  the  queen  of  heaven, 
had  the  color  of  the  mater  frugum,  the  complexion  of 
the  golden  corn ;  and  a  Greek  Father  of  the  eighth 
century  cites  an  early  tradition  of  the  Christians  con- 
cerning the  personnel  of  the  Christ  to  the  effect  that  in 
taking  the  form  of  Adam  he  assumed  features  exactly 
like  those  of  the  Virgin,  and  his  face  was  of  a  wheaten 
color,  like  that  of  his  mother.  That  is,  he  (the  seed) 
was  com-complexioned,  as  was  the  mother  of  corn,  like 


288  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Flava  Keres,  Aurea  Venus,  the  Golden  Lakshmi,  the 
Yellow  Neith ;  and  the  son  was  her  seed,  which  in 
Egypt  was  the  corn  brought  forth  at  the  vernal  equi- 
nox, and  which  was  continued  in  the  cult  of  Rome  as 
tlie  '  bread-corn  of  the  elect.' 

"  In  the  chapter  of '  knowing  the  spirits  of  the  East ' 
the  Osirified  assumes  the  type  of  the  virile  and  hairy 
Horus,  the  divine  hawk  of  the  resurrection.  This  is 
called  the  type  under  which  he  desires  to  appear  before 
all  men ;  and  it  is  said,  *  his  hair  is  on  his  shoulder 
when  he  proceeds  to  the  heaven.'  This  long  hair  of 
the  adult  Horus  reaching  down  to  the  shoulders  is  a 
typical  feature  in  the  portraits  of  the  Messiah,  the  copy 
of  the  Kamite  Christ  made  permanent  by  the  art  of  the 
Gnostics.  The  halo  of  Christ  is  the  glory  of  the  sun- 
god  seen  in  his  phantom  phase  when  the  more  physical 
type  had  become  psychotheistic.  Hence  it  is  worn  by 
the  child-Christ  as  the  harast  mummy.  It  is  the  same 
halo  that  illumined  Horus  and  lu-em-hept,  Krishna 
and  Buddha,  and  others  of  whom  the  same  old  tales 
of  deliverance  and  redemption  were  told  and  believed. 
Yet  the  dummy  ideal  of  paganism  is  supposed  to  have 
become  doubly  real  as  the  man-god  standing  with  one 
foot  in  two  worlds— one  resting  on  the  ground  of  the 
fall  from  heaven,  and  the  other  on  the  physical  resur- 
rection from  the  earth." 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  many  early  Christian 
sects  absolutely  denied  the  existence  of  Christ  in  the 
flesh,  regarding  him  as  a  phantom.  It  is  very  difficult 
to  decide  whether  the  apostle  Paul  believed  in  a  real  or 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  289 

an  ideal  Christ.  He  wrote  Iiis  Epistles  before  the 
Gospels  were  written,  and  therefore  could  have  learned 
nothing  from  that  source.  Concerning  the  various 
appearances  of  Jesus  after  the  resurrection,  he  says : 
"  Last  of  all,  he  was  seen  of  me,  as  by  one  born  out 
of  due  time ;"  and  this  seems  to  bear  out  the  conjecture 
that  Jesus  was  an  ideal,  inasmuch  as  it  was  not  in  the 
flesh  that  he  saw  him,  and  his  refusal  to  know  him 
after  the  flesh  indicates  his  strong  preference  for  him  as 
an  idea,  and  not  as  a  person.  Paul  makes  no  mention 
of  any  miracle  but  that  of  the  resurrection,  and  that 
was  manifestly  a  spiritual  rather  than  a  physical  fact. 
Moreover,  he  was  a  Pharisee,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  he  could  have  "  gloried  in  the  cross  "  had  he  taken 
the  cross  in  a  literal  sense.  He  casts  no  reproach  on 
the  Jews  for  causing  Jesus  to  suffer,  and  never  speaks 
of  the  crucifixion  as  a  crime,  nor  shows  a  particle  of 
sympathy  or  compassion  with  the  sufferer.  He  seems 
to  have  been  the  real  founder  of  Christianity,  and  might 
have  had  in  view  the  direct  action  of  the  solar  divinity 
with  whom  Christ  had  become  associated. 

A  careful  analysis  of  the  Pauline  Epistles  will  show, 
we  think,  that  the  Christ  of  Paul  was  an  idea.  And 
here  it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  that  those  who 
attributed  to  him  at  least  ten  Epistles  he  never  wrote 
would  not  scruple  to  alter,  amend,  interpolate,  aud 
change  portions  of  the  Epistles  he  actually  did  write. 
Those  who  formed  the  system  of  Christian  ecclesiasti- 
cism  never  could  afford  to  have  a  conscience.  Those 
Fathers  of  the  second  century  who  formed  the  founda- 

19 


290  SKELETON  KEYS. 

tions  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy  were  most  unscrupulous 
men. 

Of  the  Gnostics,  Mr.  Gerald  Massey  speaks  as 
follows : 

"  The  ancient  wisdom  of  Egypt  and  Chaldea  lived 
on  with  the  men  who  knew,  called  the  Gnostics.  They 
had  directly  inherited  the  gnosis  that  remained  oral, 
the  sayings  uttered  from  mouth  to  ear  that  were  to  be 
unwritten,  the  mysteries  performed  in  secret,  the  science 
kept  concealed.  The  continuity  of  the  astronomical 
mythos  of  Equinoctial  Christolatry  and  of  the  total 
typology  is  proved  by  the  persistence  of  the  type — the 
ancient  genitrix,  the  two  sisters,  the  hebdomad  of  in- 
ferior and  superior  powers,  the  trinity  in  unity  repre- 
sented by  laOy  the  tetrads,  male  and  female,  the  double 
Horus,  or  Horus  and  Stauros,  the  system  of  ^ons,  the 
Kamite  divinities,  Harpocrates  and  Sut-Anubis,  Isis 
and  Hathor.  Theirs  was  the  Christ  not  made  flesh, 
but  the  mauifester  of  the  seven  powers  and  perfect  star 
of  the  pleroma.  The  figure  of  eight,  which  is  a  sign 
of  the  Nnu  or  associate  gods  in  Egypt,  who  were  the 
primary  Ogdoad,  is  reproduced  as  a  gnostic  symbol,  a 
figure  of  the  pleroma  and  fellow-type  of  the  eight-rayed 
star.  The  '  Lamb  of  God '  was  a  gnostic  sign.  '  Lord, 
thou  art  the  Lamb '  (and  '  our  Light ')  was  a  gnostic 
formula.  The  '  Immaculate  Virgin '  was  a  gnostic 
type.  On  one  of  the  sard  stones  Isis  stands  before 
Serapis  holding  the  sistrum  in  one  hand,  in  the  other 
a  wheatsheaf,  the  legend  being  'Immaculate  is  our 
Lady  Isis,'  which  proves  the  continuity  from  Kam. 


THE  IDEAL  CHBIST.  291 

"It  was  gnostic  art  that  reproduced  the  Hathor- 
Meri  and  Horus  of  Egypt  as  the  Virgin  and  child- 
Christ  of  Rome,  and  the  icons  of  characters  entirely 
ideal  which  served  as  the  sole  portraits  of  the  historical 
Madonna  and  Jesus  the  Christ.  The  report  of  Irenseus 
sufficed  to  show  the  survival  of  the  true  tradition.  He 
complains  of  the  oral  wisdom  of  the  Gnostics,  and  says 
rightly  they  read  from  things  unwritten — i.  e.  from 
sources  unknown  to  him  and  the  Fathers  in  general. 
Chief  of  these  sources  was  the  science  of  astronomy. 
He  testifies  that  Marcus  was  skilled  in  this  form  of  the 
gnosis,  and  enables  us  to  follow  the  line  of  unbroken 
continuity,  and  to  confute  his  own  assertion  that  Gnos- 
ticism had  no  existence  prior  to  Marcion  and  Valen- 
tinus ;  which  shows  he  did  not  know,  or  else  he  denied 
the  fact,  that  the  Suttites,  the  Mandaites,  the  Essenes, 
and  Nazarenes  were  all  Gnostics ;  all  of  which  sects 
preceded  the  cult  of  the  carnalized  Christ.  Hippolytus 
informs  us  that  Elkesai  said  the  Christ  born  of  a  Vir- 
gin was  ceonian.  The  Elkesites  maintained  that  Jesus 
the  Christ  had  continually  transformed  and  manifested 
in  various  bodies  at  many  different  times.  This  shows 
they  also  were  in  possession  of  the  gnosis,  and  that  the 
Christ  and  his  repeated  incarnations  were  Kronian. 
Hence  we  are  told  that  they  occupied  themselves  '  with 
a  bustling  activity  in  regard  to  astronomical  science.* 
Epiphanius  also  bears  witness  that  the  head  and  front 
of  the  gnostic  boast  was  astronomy,  and  that  Manes 
wrote  a  work  on  astronomy,  astronomy  being  the  root 
of  the  whole  matter  concerning  Equinoctial  Christolatry. 


292  SKELETON  KEYS. 

"  Nothing  is  more  astounding,  on  their  own  showing, 
than  the  ignorance  of  the  Fathers  about  the  nature,  the 
significance,  the  descent  of  Gnosticism,  and  its  rootage 
in  the  remotest  past.  They  knew  nothing  of  evolution 
or  the  survival  of  types,  and  for  them  the  new  begin- 
ning with  Christ  carnalized  obliterated  all  that  pre- 
ceded. Such  a  thing  as  priority,  natural  genesis,  or  the 
doctrine  of  development  did  not  trouble  those  who 
considered  that  the  more  the  myth  the  greater  was 
the  miracle  which  proved  the  divinity. 

"  Also,  it  has  been  asserted  from  the  time  of  Irenaeus 
down  to  that  of  Mansel  that  the  Gnostic  heretics  of  the 
second  century  invented  a  number  of  spurious  Gospels 
in  imitation  of  or  in  opposition  to  the  true  gospel  of 
Christ,  which  has  descended  to  us  as  canonical,  authen- 
tic, and  historic.  This  is  a  popular  delusion,  false 
enough  to  damn  all  belief  in  it  from  the  beginning 
until  now.  The  ignorance  of  the  past  manifested  by 
men  like  Irenaeus  is  the  measure  of  the  value  of  their 
testimony  to  the  origines  of  Equinoctial  Christolatry. 
They  who  pretend  to  know  all  concerning  the  founding 
and  the  founder  know  nothing  of  the  foundations.  .  .  . 

"  Gnosticism,  according  to  those  who  are  ignorant  of 
its  origin  and  relationships,  was  supposed  and  assumed 
to  have  originated  in  the  second  century  ;  the  first  being 
carefully  avoided,  only  proves  that  the  A-Gnostics, 
who  had  literally  adopted  the  pre-Christian  types,  and 
believed  they  had  been  historically  fulfilled,  were  then 
for  the  first  time  becoming  conscious  of  the  cult  that 
preceded  theirs  and  face  to  face  with  those  who  held 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  293 

them  to  be  the  heretics.  Gnosticism  was  no  birth  or 
new  thing  in  the  second  century,  it  was  no  perverter 
or  corrupter  of  Christian  doctrines  divinely  revealed, 
but  the  voice  of  an  older  cult  growing  more  audible  in 
its  protest  against  a  superstition  as  degrading  and  de- 
basing now  as  when  it  was  denounced  by  men  like 
Tacitus,  Pliny,  Julian,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  Porphyry. 
For  what  could  be  more  shocking  to  any  sense  really 
religious  than  the  belief  that  the  very  God  himself  had 
descended  on  earth  as  an  embryo  in  a  virgin's  womb, 
to  run  the  risk  of  abortion  and  universal  miscarriage 
during  nine  months  in  utero,  and  then  dying  on  a  cross 
to  save  his  own  created  world  or  a  portion  of  its  peo- 
ple from  eternal  perdition?  The  opponents  of  the 
latest  superstition  were  too  intelligent  to  accept  a 
dying  deity.  ... 

"Never  were  men  more  perplexed  and  bewildered 
than  the  A-Gnostic  Christians  of  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries — who  had  started  from  a  new  beginning  alto- 
gether, which  they  had  been  taught  to  consider  solely 
historic — when  they  turned  to  look  back  for  the  first 
time  to  find  that  an  apparition  of  their  faith  was  follow- 
ing them  one  way  and  confronting  them  in  another ;  a 
shadow  that  threatened  to  steal  away  their  substance, 
mocking  them  with  its  aerial  unreality ;  the  ghost  of 
the  body  of  truth  which  they  had  embraced  as  a  solid 
and  eternal  reality  claiming  to  be  the  rightful  owner 
of  their  possessions ;  a  phantom  Christ  without  flesh  or 
bone ;  a  crucifixion  that  only  occurred  in  cloudland ;  a 
parody  of  the  drama  of  salvation  performed  in  the  air, 


294  SKELETON  KEYS. 

with  never  a  cross  to  cling  to,  not  a  nail-wound  to 
thrust  the  fingers  into  and  hold  on  by,  not  one  drop 
of  blood  to  wash  away  their  sins.  It  was  horrible. 
It  was  devilish.  It  was  the  devil,  they  said,  and  thus 
they  sought  to  account  for  Gnosticism  and  fight  down 
their  fears.  '  You  poor  ignorant  idiotai !'  said  the 
Gnostics,  '  you  have  mistaken  the  mysteries  of  old  for 
modern  history,  and  accepted  literally  all  that  was  only 
meant  mystically.' — '  You  spawn  of  Satan  !'  responded 
the  Christians,  '  you  are  making  the  mystery  by  con- 
verting our  accomplished  facts  into  your  miserable 
fables;  you  are  dissipating  and  dispersing  into  thin 
air  our  only  bit  of  solid  foothold  in  the  world,  stained 
with  the  red  drops  of  Calvary.  You  are  giving  a 
Satanic  interpretation  to  the  word  of  revelation  and 
falsifying  the  oracles  of  God.  You  are  converting  the 
solid  facts  of  our  history  into  your  new-fangled  alle- 
gories.'— 'Nay,'  replied  the  Gnostics,  *it  is  you  who 
have  taken  the  allegories  of  mythology  for  historic 
facts.'  And  they  were  right.  It  was  in  consequence 
of  their  taking  the  allegorical  tradition  of  the  fall  for 
reality  that  the  Christian  Fathers  considered  woman  to 
be  accursed,  and  called  her  a  serpent,  a  scorpion,  the 
devil  in  feminine  form." 

The  Gnostics  are  said  by  Gibbon  to  have  been  "  the 
most  polite,  the  most  learned,  and  the  most  wealthy  of 
the  Christian  name."  They  were  finally  forbidden  by 
Theodosias  I.  to  assemble  at  their  places  of  meeting  or 
to  teach  their  doctrines.  Their  books,  too,  were  burned, 
so  that  we  have  now  no  full  account  of  them.     Onlv 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  295 

those  who  lied  about  them  have  been  permitted  a 
hearing. 

The  very  fact  that  all  the  apparently  historic  events 
in  the  life  of  Jesus  have  an  astrological  and  metaphoric 
character  lifts  him  out  of  the  category  of  physical  hu- 
manity into  that  of  the  ideal.  We  may  relegate  him 
thither,  and  yet  leave  no  vacant  place  in  the  arena  of 
common  life.  This  would  be  in  perfect  keeping  with 
ancient  usage.  Among  the  reputed  founders  of  philo- 
sophic systems  we  have  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of 
such  great  teachers  as  Manu,  Kapila,  Vyasa,  Kanada, 
or  Gotama,  and  the  founding  of  the  principal  common- 
wealths was  ascribed  to  demigods  and  fictitious  epon- 
ymous heroes.  Rome,  Athens,  Sparta,  Thebes,  and 
indeed  every  ancient  city  of  note,  was  said  to  be  estab- 
lished after  that  manner.  Even  leaders  and  teachers 
actually  existing  have  been  disguised  by  myth  or  the 
characteristics  of  the  doctrine  which  they  taught. 
Confucius  and  Zoroaster  are  hidden  from  view  by  the 
character  assigned  to  them  by  later  writers.  Even 
Sokrates  as  he  appears  and  speaks  in  the  Platonic 
Dialogues  is  little  else  than  a  personification  of  the 
Akademic  philosophy.  When  we  consider  that  he  is 
closely  assimilated  to  the  sages  and  hero-gods  of  the 
other  worships,  and  that  every  significant  point  in  his 
history  conforms  to  astrological  periods  and  to  similar 
characteristics  in  the  pagan  religions,  we  cannot  well 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  he  too  is  an  ideal, 

Mr.  William  Oxley  of  England,  in  his  great  work 
on  Egypt,  takes  the  ground  that  the  account  we  have 


296  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  Jesus  in  the  Gospels  is  substantially  drawn  from 
Egyptian  sources. 

Amenoph  III.  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  old 
Egyptian  kings.  Amongst  other  gigantic  works,  he 
built  the  temple  at  Luxor,  much  of  which  is  buried  in 
sand  and  covered  over  by  native  houses.  It  is  on  the 
walls  of  this  temple  that  veiy  remarkable  sculptures 
are  portrayed  relating  to  the  birth,  etc.  of  Amenoph 
III. ;  they  are  on  the  inner  wall  of  the  sacred  shrine, 
the  holy  of  holies,  and  the  sculptured  scenes  represent 
the  annunciation,  the  conception,  the  incarnation,  birth, 
and  adoration  of  the  divine  man-child  (Amenoph  III.) 
born  from  Mut-em-Sa.  The  two  latter  syllables  mean 
"  the  Alone/'  or  Only  One,  and  the  whole  title  means 
"  the  mother  who  gave  birth  to  the  Only  One." 

One  fact  is  established  beyond  all  cavil,  and  that  is 
that  the  New  Testament  is  the  product  of  an  order  of 
men  well  versed  in  astronomy,  and  who  by  the  aid  of 
that  science  produced,  on  lines  laid  down  by  the  an- 
cient Egyptian  hierophants,  a  new  version  of  the  old 
myths  and  allegories.  We  have  as  a  fact  the  actual 
names  and  dates  plagiarized  from  an  Egypto-Arabic 
source,  which  undoubtedly  betrays  its  origin,  and  the 
interpretation  of  this,  and  numberless  instances  besides, 
in  strict  accordance  with  the  astrological  formula  and 
system,  with  its  Graeco-Egyptian  zodiacal  pictorial 
representations. 

Oxley  says :  "Apropos  to  this  doctrine,  I  have  in 
my  possession  two  statuettes — one  dating  from  the 
twenty-second   dynasty,  900  b.  c. — of  Isis,   crowned 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  297 

and  nursing  the  babe  Horns.  On  my  return  from 
Egypt  through  Italy,  I  obtained  a  statuette  of  Mary, 
crowned  and  nursing  the  babe  Jesus,  which  is  an  exact 
copy  of  the  Virgin  and  Child  in  the  church  of  St.  Au- 
gustine in  Rome.     The  figures  are  identical." 

Face  to  face  with  such  a  fact,  who  dare  assert  that 
the  Egyptian  Isis  and  Horus  are  a  myth,  and  that  the 
Christian  Mary  and  Jesus  are  really  historical  ?  Some 
simple-minded  ones  beguile  themselves  with  the  delu- 
sion that  these  Egyptian  and  other  heathen  beliefs  are 
prophecies  of  the  real  Jesus  who  in  the  fulness  of  time 
came  down  from  heaven  and  was  born  of  a  virgin. 
But  against  this  we  have  not  only  the  actual  claim  of 
several  Egyptian  kings  to  be  the  "  son  of  God  accord- 
ing to  promise  or  prophecy"  (sixteen  hundred  years 
before  Christ  was  bornj,  but  we  have  the  fact  of  a 
whole  nation  for  thousands  of  years  resting  their  hopes 
of  eternal  salvation  upon  a  belief  that  "  the  son  of  God, 
Osiris,  came  down  from  heaven,  took  upon  himself  the 
mortal  form,  was  slain  by  wicked  hands,  rose  again 
from  the  dead,  and  ascended  into  heaven,  where  he  be- 
came the  great  judge  of  all  mankind." 

What  adds  to  the  difficulty  is  that  no  dates  are  given 
in  the  writings  of  the  early  Christian  authors,  and, 
what  is  more,  many  of  their  names  are  evidently  noms 
de  plume  ;  for  instance,  the  arch-heretic  Arius  and  the 
great  Nicene  Council  seem  to  resolve  themselves  sim- 
ply into  a  controversy  relating  to  the  sun-god  under 
the  form  of  Aries  (the  Ram  or  Lamb)  ;  and  as  to  dates 
in  connection  therewith,  they  are  simply  Masonic  points 


298  SKELETON  KEYS. 

with  an  astronomical  reference  and  symbolical  mean- 
ing. In  plain  terms,  nearly  the  whole  of  both  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  is  an  allegorical  record  of  astral, 
solar,  and  planetary  phenomena,  with  personages  sub- 
stituted for  zodiacal  signs ;  and  with  this  key  in  hand 
the  Hermetic  student  can  unravel  the  allegories  which 
are  presented  in  such  a  form  as  to  read  like  literal 
history. 

Our  English  name  for  the  zodiacal  sign  referred 
to  is  the  Ram,  but  in  Latin  it  is  Aries,  and  Nisan 
(which  is  the  month  of  March).  The  "sacred  year" 
of  all  systems  commences  with  this  month  and  sign ; 
hence  the  Avian  heresy  and  the  Council  of  Nice,  which 
resolves  itself  into  a  descriptive  personified  afecount  of 
a  conjunction  of  planets  about  the  definite  fixing  of  the 
first  point  of  Aries  as  a  basic  point  in  time  in  history, 
and  which  point  is  used  in  astronomical  science  to  this 
day.  But  the  appearance  of  the  Cross,  with  the  letters 
I  H  S  on  the  planispherical  chart,  gives  the  key  to  the 
solution  of  the  mystery.  The  Church  interprets  these 
letters  to  stand  for  Jesus  Salvator  Hominum — i.  e.  Jesus 
the  Saviour  of  Men.  The  initiates  read  them  as  wit- 
mei^als,  which  stand  for  608  ;  which  is  the  exact  period 
of  a  solar-lunar  cycle — i.  e.  the  number  of  years  which 
pass  before  the  sun  and  moon  occupy  the  same  relative 
positions  in  the  heavens. 

According  to  the  astral  theology  of  ancient  religious 
systems,  this  cycle  of  608  (or  600)  years  represented  a 
Messianic  period,  at  the  completion  of  which  a  new 
messiah  or  avatar  or  savior  was  born  upon  the  earth. 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  299 

The  one  prior  to  Jesus  was  Gyrus,  who  gave  orders  for 
the  building  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  just  six  hun- 
dred years  before  Christ.  Manatheo  speaks  of  a 
"  Cyrus,"  son  of  Cambyses,  first  king  of  the  twenty- 
second  dynasty,  but  no  Cyrus  appears  in  the  Egyptian 
annals.  The  biblical  Cyrus  is  only  another  form  of 
Osiris,  and  is  in  reality  a  sun-savior.  The  Arabs 
used  the  same  system,  for  their  Mohammed  comes  in 
just  about  six  hundred  years  after  Christ,  and  their  era 
commences  with  their  commencement  of  a  new  year, 
which  dates  from  622  A.  d.  Even  our  latest  era — 
Anno  Domini — did  not  come  into  general  use  until 
about  one  thousand  years  after  the  event  it  is  said  to 
commemorate  had  passed.  This  epoch  was  introduced 
into  Italy  in  the  sixth  century  by  Dionysius  the  Little, 
a  Roman  abbot,  and  it  began  to  be  used  in  Gaul  in  the 
eighth,  but  was  not  generally  followed  until  the  ninth 
century.  From  extant  charters  in  England  it  is  known 
to  have  been  used  a  little  before  the  ninth  century,  but 
it  did  not  come  into  common  use  for  a  century  later. 
Time  was,  for  centuries  after  the  alleged  birth  of  Christ, 
calculated  from  January  1  in  the  4th  of  the  194th 
Olympiad,  the  753d  A.  u.  c.  of  the  foundation  of  Rome, 
and  4714th  of  the  Julian  period. 

The  astro-theological  foundation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment being  demonstrated,  the  actual  date  of  the  com- 
pilation of  the  matter  becomes  of  secondary  import- 
ance, inasmuch  as  celestial  phenomena  are  as  true  to- 
day as  they  were  when  first  used  to  symbolize  the 
intellectual    and  spiritual    nature   of   man.      As  all 


300  SKELETON  KEYS. 

nations  that  have  any  pretensions  to  be  considered 
civilized  have  had  the  same  phenomena  for  their  re- 
ligious systems,  and  as  the  path  of  the  solar  orb  has 
been  utilized  for  the  history  of  its  various  personifica- 
tions, the  question  arises,  Which  out  of  the  many  mes- 
siahs  or  sun-saviors  are  true,  and  which  are  false? 
As  has  been  already  noted,  the  leading  incidents  in  the 
memoirs  of  Osiris,  Buddha,  Chrishna,  and  Jesas  are 
identical  in  conception,  but  more  or  less  varied  in  ex- 
pression according  to  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  writers. 
The  logical  and  true  method  is  to  regard  one  and  all 
as  allegorical  symbols,  clothed  not  merely  with  an 
eclectic  intellectuality,  but  vested  with  a  moral  power 
that  can  affect  the  heart  and  conscience  of  men  for 
good. 

The  parentage  of  Christianism  is  in  Egyptian  Osir- 
ianism,  while  that  of  what  we  understand  as  Judaism 
is  attributable  to  Chaldean  sources,  both  converging  to 
a  common  centre  and  finding  a  new  expression  through 
two  diverse  orders,  yet  both  equally  versed  in  Cabal- 
istic science,  modified  by  the  eclectic  influences  which 
were  active  at  the  period  of  their  production. 

The  ecclesiastical  party,  for  reasons  which  are  well 
understood,  never  allowed  the  laity  to  be  taught  other 
than  the  literal  and  surface  meaning,  while  the  mystic 
brotherhoods  were  forbidden  by  the  rules  of  their  orders 
to  make  public  the  real  meaning  of  the  symbols,  of 
which  only  the  highest  degree  of  initiates  were  allowed 
to  know. 

Mr.  William  Oxley  further  thinks  that  if  it  were  pos- 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  301 

sible  to  raise  the  veil  that  obscures  the  historic  past  it 
would  be  found  that  the  divine-human  ideal  figure  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  combination  of  the  Western  Hesus 
and  Eastern  Christus.  This  accounts  for  the  title,  while 
the  incidents  in  the  life  of  the  historic  Apollonius  of 
Tyana  would  supply  material  for  the  personal  narra- 
tive. In  fact,  the  nervous  desire  of  ecclesiastical  re- 
viewers to  suppress  or  explain  away  the  too  patent 
similarity  between  his  and  the  Gospel  life  of  Jesus  is  a 
half  admission  of  there  being  a  substratum  of  truth  in 
the  allegation. 

Oxley  says :  "  Against  the  claim  for  a  very  high 
antiquity  in  regard  to  even  the  Old  Testament,  we  are 
confronted  with  the  fact  that  all  the  Hebrew  words 
used  in  its  compilation  have  their  roots  in  the  Arabic 
language  (or  Aramaic,  which  closely  borders  upon  the 
Arabic) ;  and  what  is  not  less  strange  is,  that  many  of 
the  so-called  apocryphal  writings  of  the  Christians  are 
still  extant  in  the  same  language.  As  Christian  pro- 
ductions this  fact  is  inexplicable,  but  considered  as 
Chrestonian  tales  or  legends,  it  is  easy  to  understand, 
seeing  that  they  relate  to  the  humanized  deity  of  that 
geographical  district. 

He  concludes  that  Christianity,  considered  as  a  living 
spiritual  truth,  is  the  gradual  development  of  a  system 
of  thought,  and  is  the  resultant  of  the  highest  and  best 
conception  of  the  human  mind  as  an  ideal  of  purity 
and  every  virtue  that  it  is  capable  of  expressing ;  and, 
further,  that  this  ideal  was  presented  to  different  nations 
long  before  the  Christian  one  was  known,  and  that  it 


302  SKELETON  KEYS. 

was  the  Uteralizing  or  personification  of  this  written 
ideal  that  afforded  conditions  for  the  superstructure  of 
ecclesiastical  systems,  dependent  on  a  separate  caste  of 
men  set  apart  for  the  purpose  of  its  support  and  propa- 
ganda. As  these  men  were  able  to  grasp  and  wield 
power  over  the  intellect,  and  even  persons,  of  their 
votaries,  so  in  exact  ratio  the  spiritual  and  intellectual 
ideal  (which  is  not  a  monad,  but  universal)  was  lost, 
and  the  assumed  historical  personage  is  exalted  at  the 
expense  of  spiritual  liberty  and  the  birthright  prerog- 
ative of  humanity.  In  short,  the  supposed  Founder 
of  Christianity  is  not  an  historical  personage,  but  an 
old  ideal  presented  in  a  newer  and  better  and  higher 
form  than  its  predecessors ;  and,  further,  this  ideal  is 
not  dependent  upon  a  past  historical,  but  is  held  up  as 
the  standard  of  attainment  by  humanity ;  and  as  each 
realizes  the  truth  within  him  or  herself,  then  they  will 
find  that  the  real  "  Christ "  is  not  and  was  not  an  his- 
torical person,  but  a  spiritual  life-giving  principle 
within  themselves. 

The  records  of  history  show  that  a  dramatic  Christ 
has  come  down  the  stream  of  time  from  the  earliest 
periods ;  from  India  through  Egypt,  China,  Assyria, 
Babylon,  Persia,  Arabia,  Asia  Minor,  and  Palestine, 
until  the  present  time — from  the  Buddha  of  the  Tauric 
constellations  to  the  Aries  and  Pisces  of  the  modern 
Christ ;  and  all  his  manifestations  possess  the  essential 
characteristics  of  the  one  sun-god.  Midway  between 
Buddhists  and  the  Christians  appears  the  sublimely 
idealistic  mythology  of  Greece,  shining  all  over  with 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  303 

the  glory  of  the  solar  legend.  Very  prominent  in  this 
system  is  the  god-man  Prometheus.  The  name  is 
synonymous  with  Logos,  which  is  used  in  the  fourth 
Gospel  in  reference  to  Jesus,  and  signifies  a  derai-deity ; 
and  Prometheus  means  Providence,  and  is  represent- 
ed by  the  all-seeing  Eye.  We  select  him  rather  than 
other  notable  impersonations,  for  the  purpose  of  refer- 
ring to  the  wonderful  Greek  drama  written  by  -^schy- 
lus  (Prometheus  Bound),  which  was  acted  in  the  theatre 
of  Athens  at  least  five  hundred  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era.  The  plot  was  derived  from  material  even 
then  of  great  antiquity,  and  contains  all  the  essential 
features  of  the  modern  "  Passion  Play,"  so  beautifully 
portrayed  upon  canvas  in  our  churches  and  eloquently 
described  by  our  ministers  of  the  present  day.  No 
author  ever  displayed  greater  powers  of  poetry  in  sup- 
porting through  this  Promethean  play  the  august  cha- 
racter of  this  divine  sufferer.  We  give  a  few  lines 
from  Potter's  translation : 

"  I  will  speak, 
Not  as  upbraiding  them,  but  my  own  gifts 
Commending.     'Twas  I  who  brought  sweet  hope 
To  inhabit  in  their  hearts ;  I  brought 
The  fire  of  heaven  to  animate  their  clay, 
And  through  the  clouds  of  barbarous  ignorance 
Diffused  the  beams  of  knowledge.     In  a  word, 
Prometheus  taught  each  useful  art  to  man." 

He  was  called  upon  to  explain  how  his  goodness  could 
have  brought  upon  him  such  extreme  suffering,  and 
he  says : 


304  SKELETON  KEYS. 

"  See  what,  a  god,  I  suffer  from  the  gods  I 
For  mercy  to  mankind  I  am  not  deemed 
Worthy  of  mercy ;  but  in  this  uncouth 
Appointment  am  fixed  here, 
A  spectacle  dishonorable  to  Jove ! 
On  the  throne  of  heaven  scarce  was  he  seated, 
On  the  powers  of  heaven 
He  showered  his  various  benefits,  thereby 
Confirming  his  sovereignty  ;  but  for  unhappy  mortals 
Had  no  regard,  but  all  the  present  race 
Willed  to  extirpate  and  to  form  anew. 
None  save  myself  opposed  his  will.     1  dared, 
And,  boldly  pleading,  saved  them  from  destruction — 
Saved  them  from  sinking  to  the  realm  of  night ; 
For  which  ofience  I  bow  beneath  these  pains, 
Dreadful  to  suffer,  piteous  to  behold  !" 

None  remained  to  be  witnesses  of  his  dying  agony 
but  the  chorus  of  ever-faithful  women,  who  bewailed 
and  lamented  him.  The  earth  trembled  and  the  whole 
frame  of  nature  was  convulsed,  and  the  curtain  fell  on 
the  sublimest  scene  ever  presented  to  human  sight — a 
dying  god  !  The  preternatural  darkness  was  exhibited 
on  the  stage,  and  the  most  agonizing  and  heartfelt  sor- 
row manifested  by  the  weeping  audience.  It  was  the 
"  Passion  Play." 

Let  it  be  kept  in  mind  that  all  of  the  incidents  of  the 
Gospels  have  been  acted  in  the  theatres  or  illustrated 
in  the  sacred  rites  and  religious  ceremonies  of  pagan 
peoples  from  time  immemorial.  Are  not  the  Gospels 
a  plagiarized  and  adapted  drama? 

We  close  this  chapter  with  a  further  quotation  from 
Mr.  Johnson : 


THE  IDEAL  CHRIST.  305 

"  I  am  not  asserting  that  all  this  was  pure  fiction — 
that  no  one  stood  where  men  imagined  they  saw  a  God 
on  earth.  But  I  do  recognize  the  extreme  difficulty 
of  satisfying  a  free  and  sincere  mind  as  to  how  much 
or  how  little  did  '  happen,'  and  the  extreme  hardihood 
of  asserting  at  this  day  that  there  was  anything  in  the 
person  or  life  of  Jesus  to  vest  in  him  the  claim  to  be 
the  enduring  definitive  centre  of  religious  thought  and 
association  under  any  name  or  title  whatsoever.  Nei- 
ther the  character  of  the  records  nor  the  manner  of 
their  origination  authorizes  that  postulate  of  perfection 
through  which  alone  such  claim  could  vest  in  any  be- 
ing. The  veneration  of  ages  for  his  name  deserves 
respect  as  the  satisfaction  of  a  natural  demand  during 
a  certain  stage  of  human  progress.  But  it  does  not 
prove  him  an  exception  to  the  law  that  the  worship 
of  personages  must  give  way  to  the  worship  of  prin- 
ciples— the  centrality  of  an  individual  to  the  centrality 
of  ideas — the  divinity  or  '  lordship '  of  a  man  to  the 
deity  of  the  infinitely  wise  and  good.  It  illustrates 
that  law.  Christism  in  due  time  passes,  like  polythe- 
ism, and  a  larger  faith  succeeds.  Thus  the  theory- 
refutes  itself. 

"  The  Christian  idealization  demands  that  all  imper- 
fections in  the  New-Testament  Jesus  shall  be  ascribed 
to  the  misapprehensions  of  the  disciples  and  the  igno- 
rance of  the  biographers.  It  is  confident  that  Jesus 
must  have  been  greater  than  the  record  shows.  But 
we  do  not  know  that  he  was  even  so  great  as  the  record 
shows.     We  are  confidently  told  that  such  an  ideal  as 

20 


306  SKELETON  KEYS. 

can  be  there  discerned  presupposes  its  actual — that  no 
man  could  have  drawn  such  a  character  except  from 
life.  'Such  a  grand  figure  is  not  hewn  out  of  air/ 
But  it  is  quite  possible  to  carry  this  kind  of  divination 
too  far. 

"  If  a  man  could  be  that,  why  could  not  a  man  or  an 
age  conceive  that  it  ought  to  be  ?  All  that  can  fairly 
be  assumed  is,  that  there  must  have  been  an  impressive 
life  (or  lives)  behind  all  the  construction ;  and  this  is 
not  denied.  But  the  necessities  of  the  religious  life  in 
that  time  produced  Jesus.  Why  could  they  uof  mag- 
nify their  own  product  and  improve  upon  it  ideally  as 
they  developed  into  new  and  larger  demands  ?  If  we 
are  to  insist  that  the  idealizing  faculty  cannot  go  be- 
yond actuality,  no  meaning  will  be  left  to  the  word 
ideal,  and  no  such  faculty  will  remain.  This  is  the 
irony  to  which  the  old  belief  comes.  .  .  . 

"  A  pure  and  simple  worship  of  the  Infinite  and 
Eternal  is  the  necessity  of  philosophy ;  it  is  the  goal 
of  science ;  it  is  the  true  ground  of  trust  and  prayer 
and  love,  of  philosophic  Theism  and  spiritual  Panthe- 
ism alike  ;  it  is  the  parent  of  prophets,  of  mystics,  of 
reformers,  of  all  true  builders  of  man's  social  unity 
and  religious  communion." 

No  reasonable  man  can  doubt  that  the  Christ  of  Paul 
and  the  Gospels  is  largely,  if  not  altogether,  ideal ;  and 
in  the  succeeding  chapter  we  proceed  to  give  more 
specifically  our  reasons  for  thinking  so. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

JESUS  AND  OTHER  CHBISTS. 

"Come  now,  let  us  reason  together." — IsA.  1  :  18. 
"  Let  me  reason  the  case  with  thee." — Jer.  12  :  1. 

That  there  should  be  held  so  many  diiferent  views 
concerning  the  character  and  work  of  Christ  is  itself  a 
very  suggestive  circumstance.  It  implies  that  the  evi- 
dence in  the  case  is  not  direct  and  clear,  and  that  there 
are  grounds  for  doubt  and  uncertainty.  That  honest, 
well-meaning  men  should  be  left  in  doubt  regarding 
the  most  wonderful  event  in  history,  involving  their 
salvation,  is  still  more  astounding.  One  would  sup- 
pose that  if  so  wonderful  an  event  as  the  incarnation 
of  God  had  taken  place  it  would  have  been  made  so 
manifest  that  the  most  skeptical  could  not  doubt  it. 
There  seems  to  have  been  great  neglect  or  indifference 
regarding  the  matter.  Contemporaneous  history  takes 
no  notice  of  Jesus,  and  the  biographies  that  we  have 
of  him  cannot  be  shown  to  have  had  an  existence  until 
nearly  two  centuries  after  he  is  said  to  have  made  his 
advent ;  and  Paul,  who  had  written  concerning  him 
before  these  Gospels  were  compiled,  was  so  ambiguous 
that  the  most  learned  theologians  differ  as  to  whether 
he  regarded  the  Christ  as  an  actual  person  or  mere- 
ly an  impersonation.     The  early  records  of  the  life 

307 


308  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  Christ,  if  any  existed,  seem  to  have  been  destroyed 
or  lost,  and  there  are  no  original  documents  nor  authen- 
ticated copies  of  such  records.  There  can  be  no  true 
faith,  no  genuine  intelligent  belief,  without  evidence ; 
and  where  is  the  evidence?  To  believe  without  some 
reason  for  believing  is  blind  credulity.  The  most  in- 
telligent Christian  writers  do  not  even  pretend  to  have 
any  documents  relating  to  the  existence  of  Jesus  that 
by  any  strain  of  language  can  be  called  evidence. 

Neander,  an  eminent  Christian  writer,  author  of  a 
Life  of  Christ,  acknowledges  in  so  many  words  his 
painful  consciousness  of  the  utter  lack  of  historic  evi- 
dence in  regard  to  him,  his  acts,  and  wonderful  per- 
formances. He  demands,  as  an  imperative  necessity, 
to  be  permitted  at  the  beginning  to  take  the  most  im- 
portant matters  for  granted.  He  asks  :  "  What,  then, 
is  the  special  presupposition  with  which  we  must  ap- 
proach the  life  of  Christ  ?  It  is,  in  a  word,  the  belief 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  in  a  sense  that  can- 
not be  predicated  of  any  human  being,  the  truth  that 
Christ  is  God-man  being  presupposed."  Neander,  by 
making  this  confession,  surrenders  the  whole  question. 
There  is  no  direct  evidence  of  the  existence  of  such  a 
person  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  all  fair-minded,  intel- 
ligent Christian  writers  admit  it.  What  is  called  evi- 
dence is  found  only  in  the  short  sketches  of  the  New 
Testament,  which  have  been  shown  to  be  no  evidence 
at  all. 

We  might  rest  the  case  here.  It  is  admitted  that  it 
cannot  be  proved  that  Jesus  existed,  and  when  we  un- 


JESUS  AND  OTHER  CHRISTS.  309 

dertake  to  show  to  the  contrary  we  undertake  to  prove 
a  negative — a  thing  which  is  never  required  in  a  court 
of  justice.  Yet  we  do  undertake  it,  and  reverently 
invite  the  reader  to  impartially  consider  the  points  in 
our  case. 

There  is  in  the  biography  of  Jesus  an  utter  want  of 
originality.  It  is  a  copy  of  other  lives.  It  is  a  sig- 
nificant fact  that  all  the  principal  claims  made  for  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  had  been  made  for  others  long  before  him. 
We  can  only  mention  a  few. 

The  birth  of  Buddha,  like  the  birth  of  Jesus,  was  an- 
nounced in  the  heavens  by  an  asterism  on  the  horizon 
which  is  singularly  called  the  "  Messianic  star."  When 
Chrishna  was  born  his  star  was  pointed  out  by  Nared, 
a  great  astronomer. 

The  birth  of  every  East  Indian  avatar  was  announced 
by  celestial  signs.  Even  the  Jews  have  similar  tradi- 
tions regarding  Moses  and  Abraham.  Canon  Farrar 
admits  in  his  Life  of  Christ  that  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans always  held  this  idea  of  the  birth  and  death  of 
great  men  being  presaged  by  mysterious  stars,  and 
Tacitus  affirms  this  regarding  the  dethronement  of 
Nero.  All  candid  theologians  admit  that  this  doctrine 
of  the  announcement  of  the  birth  of  extraordinary  per- 
sons by  the  appearance  of  stars  was  a  universal  belief 
among  ancient  peoples. 

Luke  is  the  only  evangelist  who  records  the  fact 
that  the  birth  of  Jesus  was  attended  with  the  songs 
of  angels  from  the  heavenly  world,  and  there  is  good 
reason  for  believing  that  this  professed  compiler  drew 


310  SKELETON  KEYS. 

his  information  from  the  apocryphal  Gospel  called 
"  Protevangelion."  But  there  is  nothing  novel  in  this 
idea,  for  the  same  thing  had  long  before  been  recorded 
of  Chrishna  at  his  birth,  that  "the  quarters  of  the 
horizon  were  irradiate  with  joy,"  .  .  .  that  "  the  spirits 
and  nymphs  of  heaven  danced  and  sang,  and  at  mid- 
night the  clouds  emitted  low  pleasing  sounds  and  pour- 
ed down  rain  of  flowers."  It  is  only  necessary  here  to 
state  that  similar  demonstrations  are  alleged  to  have 
attended  the  advent  of  other  Hindoo  saviors,  and  also 
of  Confucius,  of  Osiris,  of  Apollonius,  of  Apollo,  of 
Hercules,  and  of  Esculapius. 

It  is  certainly  very  singular  that  all  the  circumstances 
connected  with  the  birth  of  Jesus  are  recorded  of  sev- 
eral other  persons  long  before.  Chrishna  was  cradled 
among  shepherds,  to  whom  his  birth  was  first  announced, 
and  the  prophet  Nared  visited  his  father  and  mother 
and  declared  the  child  to  be  of  divine  descent.  An 
aged  hermit  named  Asita,  like  Simeon  of  our  Gospels, 
visited  the  infant  Buddha  and  predicted  wonderful 
things  of  his  life  and  mission,  and  wept  because  he 
was  too  old  to  see  the  day.  Not  only  was  the  infant 
Chrishna  adored  by  the  shepherds  and  magi,  but  was 
presented  with  "gifts  of  sandal-wood  and  perfume," 
very  like*"  frankincense  and  myrrh  ;"  and  he  was  also 
presented  with  gifts  of  "  costly  jewels  and  precious  sub- 
stances," very  like  "gold."  Substantially  the  same 
things  are  recorded  of  Mithras,  the  Persian  savior,  of 
Socrates,  and  many  of  the  Grecian  and  Roman  demi- 
gods. 


JESUS  AND  OTHER  CHBISTS.  311 

It  must  suffice  it  to  say  that  these  incidents  are  too 
numerous  and  circumstantial  to  be  mere  coincidences. 
King  Kansa  was  jealous  of  the  infant  Chrishna,  and 
ordered  a  general  slaughter  of  the  infants  under  a  cer- 
tain age  and  in  a  certain  district,  just  as  Herod  is  false- 
ly charged  with  having  done  when  Jesus  was  born; 
and  as  Joseph  and  Mary  were  warned  in  a  dream  to 
flee  into  Egypt  to  save  the  young  child's  life,  so  the 
foster-father  of  Chrishna  was  warned  of  danger  by  a 
"  heavenly  voice,"  and  he  was  taken  to  Mathura ;  and 
Canon  Farrar,  speaking  of  the  sojourn  of  Joseph, 
Mary,  and  the  infant  Jesus  in  Egypt,  writes :  "  Ancient 
legends  say  that  they  remained  two  years  absent  from 
Palestine,  and  lived  at  Matarieh,  a  few  miles  north- 
east of  Cairo."  This  seems  to  be  the  same  legend,  but 
the  one  regarding  Chrishna  is  sculptured  upon  the 
rocks  and  temples  of  India,  while  contemporary  history 
makes  no  mention  of  the  slaughter  of  the  innocents  by 
Herod ;  and  further  embarrassment  arises  from  the  fact 
that  Herod  was  not  king  at  that  time,  as  the  taxing 
under  Quirinus  did  not  take  place  under  the  reign  of 
Herod,  he  having  been  dead  for  several  years. 

It  would  be  easy  to  present  more  than  a  score  of  in- 
stances in  which  persons  who  came  to  be  regarded  as 
demigods  and  heroes  had  been  obliged  to  flee  from  the 
wrath  of  the  reigning  monarch  at  their  birth,  as  is  re- 
corded of  the  infant  Jesus.  In  all  centuries  of  olden 
times  the  reigning  monarch  has  generally  been  jealous 
of  some  mysterious  child,  whose  parents  or  caretakers 
were  obliged  to  hide  him  away  in  some  safe  resort. 


312  SKELETON  KEYS. 

The  long  fast  and  temptation  of  Jesus  in  the  wilder- 
ness, found  in  the  Gospel  "according"  to  Matthew, 
have  numerous  parallels  in  the  experience  of  other 
Messiahs,  even  in  minor  details.  The  fast  generally, 
as  in  the  case  of  Moses,  the  Ninevites,  and  Jesus,  last- 
ed forty  days,  but  that  of  Buddha  continued  forty- 
seven  days,  and  in  his  weakness  and  attenuation  of 
body  he  was  tempted  by  Mara,  the  prince  of  evil,  who 
promised  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  "  univer- 
sal empire,"  on  certain  conditions ;  but,  like  Jesus,  he 
said,  "  Avaunt !  get  thee  away  from  me  !"  After  the 
temptation  and  triumph  both  Buddha  and  Jesus  were 
ministered  unto  by  visiting  angels !  Zoroaster,  the 
founder  of  the  Persian  religion,  had  a  similar  expe- 
rience with  the  devil,  of  which  there  are  fully  detailed 
reports. 

Both  Chrishna  and  Jesus  were  precocious  boys,  dis- 
puting with  doctors  and  astonishing  their  teachers  with 
their  learning,  which  had  not  been  acquired  in  the 
usual  way ;  and  both  wandered  away  from  their 
parents  and  became  objects  of  anxiety  and  search  to 
anxious  mothers.  Both  preached  a  celebrated  sermon, 
wrought  numerous  and  very  similar  miracles,  were 
hated  and  opposed  by  the  priests  of  their  day,  and 
both  suffered  premature  violent  deaths  at  about  the 
same  age,  and  then  arose  from  the  dead. 

These  parallels  might  be  given  to  an  indefinite 
extent,  as  they  appear  in  Astatic  Researches,  by  Sir 
William  Jones ;  Upham's  History  and  Doctrine  of 
Buddhism;  Hardy's  Manual  of  Buddhism;  and  nu- 


JESUS  AND  OTHER  CHRISTS.  313 

merous  other  ancient  and  modern  writings  on  this 
subject ;  and  the  parallel  facts  presented  by  these  au- 
thorities are  admitted  by  the  most  distinguished  Chris- 
tian writers  not  a  few. 

In  regard  to  miracles  it  is  thought  best  to  say  only 
a  passing  word. 

It  is  admitted  by  the  ablest  theologians  of  the  ortho- 
dox schools  that  miracles  are  iudisi)ensable  to  establish 
the  claim  of  a  special  supernatural  revelation,  and  great 
reliance  is  made  upon  the  miracles  accredited  to  the 
Christian  Christ;  and  yet  we  find  other  saviors  and 
heroes  credited  not  only  with  the  same  miracles  sub- 
stantially, but  with  a  larger  number  of  even  more 
wonderful  miracles.  It  would  be  easy  to  fill  a  large 
volume  with  the  alleged  miracles  of  Buddha  and 
Chrishna,  and  Prof.  Max  Miiller  affirms  that  the 
Buddhistic  miracles  "surpass  in  wonderfulness  the 
miracles  of  all  other  religions."  Zoroaster,  Buddha, 
Osiris,  Isis,  and  Horus  all  wrought  miracles,  even  the 
raising  of  the  dead ;  Serapis,  Marduk,  Bacchus,  Escu- 
lapius,  and  Apollonius  did  the  same ;  and  the  early 
Christian  Fathers  admitted  the  reality  of  heathen  mir- 
acles, but  very  conveniently  attributed  them  to  the 
devil.  In  short,  it  may  safely  be  affirmed  that  more 
wonderful  and  better-authenticated  accounts  of  miracles 
are  given  of  numerous  other  persons,  both  before  and 
after  the  advent  of  the  Christian  Christ,  than  are  given 
of  his  miracles  in  the  Gospels. 

The  Greeks  were  accustomed  to  say,  "  Miracles  for 
fools,"  and  the  Romans  shrewdly  said,  "  The  common 


314  SKELETON  KEYS. 

jieople  like  to  be  deceived — deceivetl  let  thera  l)e;" 
and  even  the  Christian  Father  St.  Chrysostom  declared 
that  "  miracles  are  proj^r  only  to  excite  sluggish  and 
vulgar  minds ;  men  of  sense  have  no  occasion  for  them." 
The  modern  theological  idea  of  proving  the  record  by 
the  miracle,  and  the  miracle  by  the  record,  has  become 
too  transparent  for  even  the  most  credulous. 

There  is  also  great  confusion  about  thetime  of  the  birth 
of  Jesus,  though  the  Church  in  a  sort  of  jierfunctory 
manner  settled  this  by  saying  he  was  born  December 
25,  A.  D.  One.  But  the  Church  adopted  this  date  for 
reasons  of  an  astronomical  character.  More  than  one 
hundred  diiferent  dates,  some  extending  back  nearly  a 
century,  have  been  fixed  as  to  his  birth,  showing  that 
no  one  knew  anything  about  it.  A  blundering  notice 
of  his  birth  assigns  its  date  to  the  period  when  Cyrenius 
was  governor  of  Syria,  and  makes  the  enrolment  or- 
dered by  that  official  the  occasion  of  Joseph's  temporary 
sojourn  at  Bethlehem  when  that  event  took  place.  This 
enrolment,  however,  was  not  made  till  after  the  dis- 
placement of  Archelaus  from  the  kingdom  of  Judea 
and  some  ten  years  or  more  after  the  death  of  Herod, 
and  the  story  is  accordingly  in  direct  contradiction  with 
the  account  of  the  flight  of  Joseph  into  Egypt,  while 
Herod  was  still  alive,  to  preserve  the  life  of  his  son 
from  that  monarch's  jealousy.  But  what  is  very  sig- 
nificant is  the  fact  that  when  Cyrenius  commanded  the 
enrolment  Judas  of  Galilee  arose  and  denounced  it. 
He  established  a  distinct  sect  which  continued  till  the 
overthrow  of  the  Jewish  people. 


JESUS  AND  OTHER  CHRISTS.  315 

Josephus  says  :  "  When  Cyrenius  had  now  disposed 
of  Archelaus's  money,  and  when  the  taxings  were  come 
to  a  conclusion,  which  were  made  in  the  thirty-seventh 
year  of  Caesar's  victory  over  Antony  at  Actium,"  Antiq. 
xviii.  2.  The  battle  of  Actium,  in  which  Octavianus 
gained  his  final  victory  over  Antony,  occurred  in 
B.  c.  31.  Counting  thirty-seven  years,  would  bring 
the  date  of  the  taxings  down  to  A.  d.  6.  Archelaus 
after  reigning  ten  years  was  deposed  for  misconduct, 
and  banished  into  Gaul.  Cyrenius,  a  Roman  senator, 
had  been  sent  by  the  government  to  settle  up  his 
finances  and  take  an  account  of  the  substance  of  the 
Jews,  or,  in  other  words,  to  assess  their  property  in 
order  to  apportion  their  taxes.  These  things  were 
done  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  after  the  battle  of 
Actium,  or  in  6  A.  d.  Counting  ten  years  back,  we 
would  be  at  the  year  4  b.  c,  or  the  year  Archelaus 
began  to  reign.  As  Herod  of  course  was  dead  be- 
fore Archelaus  ascended  the  throne,  he  consequently 
died  before  Christ  was  born,  and  hence  the  entire 
story  of  the  slaying  of  the  infants,  the  journey  of 
the  wise  men,  and  the  flight  into  Egypt  falls  help- 
lessly to  the  ground. 

"  But  when  he  heard  that  Archelaus  did  reign  in 
Judea,  in  the  room  of  his  father  Herod,  he  was  afraid 
to  go  thither :  notwithstanding,  being  warned  of  God 
in  a  dream,  he  turned  aside  into  the  parts  of  Galilee." 
Matt.  2  :  22. 

Here  we  have  a  strange  state  of  affairs.  Joseph  and 
the  young  child  turned  from  Judea  to  Galilee  when 


316  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Archelans  was  a<?  powerful  in  the  one  country  as  in  the 
other,  for  his  ethnarchy  included  both  ! 

In  reading  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew's  Gospel  we 
find  an  inexplicable  mystery.  The  very  first  verse 
reads :  "  The  book  of  the  generation  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  son  of  David,  the  son  of  Abraham."  Then  in  the 
sixteenth  verse  it  is  said,  "  And  Jacob  begat  Joseph, 
)K  the  husband  of  Mary,  of  whom  was  born  Jesus  who  is 
called  Christ."  In  the  eighteenth,  nineteenth,  and 
twentieth  verses  the  Holy  Ghost  is  represented  as  the 
real  Father  of  Jesus  by  a  virgin ;  and  his  miraculous 
divine  descent  is  elsewhere  specifically  taught  in  the 
Gospels,  and  the  divine  Sonship  of  Jesus  has  been 
accepted  as  a  fact  by  the  general  Church — Roman 
Catholic,  Greek,  and  Protestant. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  proof  positive,  if  the 
record  is  accepted,  that  Jesus  claimed  for  himself  sim- 
ple humanity,  and  consequent  inferiority  and  subjection 
to  God ;  and  Roman  Catholics  and  orthodox  Protestants 
very  conveniently  settle  these  contradictions  by  affirm- 
ing that  he  was  both  God  and  man ;  while  Unitarians 
reject  the  divinity  of  Jesus,  and  by  way  of  apology  for 
so  doing  magnify  his  manhood  so  as  to  make  him  quite 
divine,  a  human  god. 

It  would  be  easy  to  fill  volumes  with  accounts,  with 
very  slight  variations,  of  the  miraculous  conception 
and  birth  of  divine  personages  born  of  virgin  mothers, 
who,  after  laboring  and  suffering  for  the  good  of  men, 
came  to  a  tragic  death,  which  was  generally  followed 
by  a  triumphant  resurrection  and  subsequent  deifica- 


JESVS  AND  OTHER  CHBISTS.  317 

tion.  The  cases  are  so  numerous  that  one  hardly 
knows  where  to  begin  to  enumerate  them.  It  would 
be  easy  to  furnish  a  roll  containing  the  names  of  scores 
of  incarnate  deities,  and  it  would  be  tedious  to  describe 
the  many  things  in  which  they  substantially  agree. 

According  to  some  modem  writers,  supported  by 
abundant  sculptures  in  temples,  caves,  and  rocks, 
Vishnu,  the  second  person  of  the  Hindoo  trinity,  has 
been  incarnated  eight  or  nine  times,  Buddha  being  the 
first,  Chrishna  the  eighth,  and  Gautama,  also  called 
Sakya-Muni,  the  ninth.  The  fact  that  these  alleged 
incarnations  took  place  at  uniform  intervals  show  their 
astronomical  origin. 

Equally  suggestive  is  the  fact  that  there  are  so  many 
peculiarities  connected  with  the  birth  of  these  gods,  and 
also  so  many  incidents  in  their  lives  and  deaths  abso- 
lutely identical. 

The  name  of  the  mother  of  Buddha  was  Maia,  and 
the  same  name  was  given  to  the  mother  of  the  Greek 
Mercury  and  even  to  later  divinities ;  which,  like  the 
name  Mary,  typifies  the  sea  and  sometimes  the  month 
of  May. 

Buddha  had  no  earthly  father,  but  was  an  immac- 
ulate conception  of  a  ray  of  celestial  light  through  a 
virgin  mother.  Chrishna,  the  eighth  Indian  incarna- 
tion, was  born  of  the  left  intercostal  rib  of  a  virgin. 
His  birth  was  concealed  through  fear  of  the  tyrant 
Kansa.  He  raised  the  dead  and  wrought  marvellous 
miracles,  and  washed  the  feet  of  the  Brahmans.  It 
would  be  tedious  to  give  details,  as  almost  every  in- 


318  SKELETON  KEYS. 

cident  recorded  in  the  Gospels  of  the  life  of  the  alleged 
Christian  incarnation  is  recorded  in  circumstantial  de- 
tail of  some  ancient  pagan  deity. 

The  fact  is,  that  all  the  great  nations  of  antiquity, 
and  many  of  the  smaller  tribes,  have  had  very  similar 
views  as  to  divine  manifestations  in  human  flesh ;  and 
you  need  only  turn  to  the  pages  of  any  good  dictionary 
of  mythology  to  verify  the  truth  of  this  allegation. 

We  might  extend  these  analogies  to  an  indefinite 
extent.  The  author  of  Bible  Myths  has  specified  about 
fifty  particulars  in  which  Jesus  is  said  to  have  resem- 
bled Buddha,  and  as  many  more  particulars  in  the  case 
of  Chrishna.  Nobody  having  any  knowledge  of  the 
world's  history  will  doubt  that  these  Indian  divinities 
preceded  the  Judean  Christ  by  several  centuries,  as 
many  distinguished  writers,  like  Prof.  Max  Miiller, 
have  admitted. 

We  challenge  the  theologians  to  present  one  single 
prominent  feature  or  characteristic  said  to  have  been 
shown  in  the  career  of  Jesus  which  did  not  appear  in 
several  other  alleged  incarnations  hundreds  of  years 
before.  The  fact  is,  that  the  Christ  of  modern  times 
is  a  perfect  copy  of  other  Christs  who  preceded  him. 
Not  only  are  all  ancient  Oriental  scriptures  full  of 
incarnated  divine  saviors,  but  the  same  symbols  and 
ceremonies  abound  in  their  worship.  Take  the  cross, 
for  an  example.  In  ancient  India  the  cross  was  as 
common  as  in  modern  Rome,  and  heathen  temples 
were  built  in  the  form  of  a  cross  centuries  before 
papists  and  Puseyites  and  their  liberal  imitators  ever 


JESUS  AND   OTHER  CHRISTS.  319 

thought  of  such  a  thing.  It  was  a  common  symbol  in 
the  ancient  worship  of  Egypt.  It  was  a  Druidic  em- 
blem in  Britain  five  hundred  years  before  the  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity.  Plato,  the  Grecian  philosopher, 
four  hundred  or  five  hundred  years  before  Christ  pro- 
claimed the  cross  to  be  the  best  symbol  of  the  divinity 
next  to  the  supreme.  The  worshippers  of  Serapis  used 
it,  and  Hadrian,  the  Roman  emperor,  as  late  as  A.  d.  1 30 
mistook  them  for  Christians.  The  standard  portrait 
of  Jesus,  so  honored  by  modern  Christians,  is  a  copy 
of  the  head  of  Serapis,  the  well-known  sun-god,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  Mr.  King  in  his  able 
work.   Gnostics  and  their  Remains  (p.  68). 

The  same  is  true  of  baptism  and  the  Eucharist,  as 
ceremonies  identical  with  these,  in  their  main  aspects, 
existed  among  the  ancient  pagans.  The  "  Lord's  Sup- 
per "  virtually  was  in  use  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  before  Christ.  Wherever  Christian  mis- 
sionaries have  gone  they  have  found  substantially  the 
same  dogmas  and  religious  observances,  and  Tertullian, 
a  Christian  Father  of  the  second  century,  conveniently 
explained  this  fact  by  saying  that  the  devil  had  taught 
the  heathen  these  same  things  to  forestall  the  preaching 
of  the  missionaries. 

And  yet  Justin  Martyr  in  the  second  century  (a.  d. 
140),  in  defending  the  Christian  religion  against  the 
assaults  of  pagans,  said :  "  For  declaring  that  the 
Logos,  the  first-begotten  Son  of  God,  our  Master  Jesus 
Christ,  to  be  born  of  a  virgin  without  any  human  mix- 
ture, and  to  be  crucified  and  dead  and  to  have  arisen 


320  SKELETON  KEYS. 

again  into  heaven,  we  say  no  more  in  this  than  what 
you  say  of  those  whom  you  style  the  sons  of  Jove." 
Here  is  a  distinct  admission  in  the  second  century, 
from  one  in  high  authority,  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
death  and  resurrection  of  miraculously-incarnated 
deities  born  of  virgin  mothers  was  well  known  among 
pagans  before  the  Christian  era. 

But  we  are  not  done  with  Justin  Martyr  yet.  In  his 
Apology  to  the  emperor  Hadrian  he  makes  this  most 
astonishing  admission  :  "  In  saying  that  all  things  were 
made  in  this  beautiful  order  by  God,  what  do  we  seem 
to  say  more  than  Plato  ?  When  we  teach  a  general 
conflagration,  what  do  we  teach  more  than  the  Stoics  ? 
By  opposing  the  worship  of  the  works  of  men's  hands 
we  concur  with  Menander  the  comedian.  .  .  .  For  you 
need  not  be  told  what  a  parcel  of  sons  the  writers  most 
in  vogue  among  you  assign  to  Jove ;  there's  Mercury, 
Jove's  interpreter,  in  imitation  of  the  Logos,  in  wor- 
ship among  you.  There's  ^sculapius,  the  physician, 
smitten  by  a  thunderbolt,  and  after  that  ascending  into 
heaven.  There's  Bacchus,  torn  to  pieces ;  and  Hercules, 
burnt  to  get  rid  of  his  pains.  There's  Pollux  and  Cas- 
tor, the  sons  of  Jove  by  Leda,  and  Perseus  by  Danae ; 
and,  not  to  mention  others,  I  would  fain  know  why 
you  always  deify  the  departed  emperors,  and  have  a 
fellow  at  hand  to  make  affidavit  that  he  saw  Caesar 
mount  to  heaven  from  the  funeral  pile? 

"  As  to  the  Son  of  God,  called  Jesus,  should  we 
allow  him  to  be  nothing  more  than  man,  yet  the  title 
of  the  Son  of  God  is  very  justifiable,  upon  the  account 


JESUS  AND  OTHER  CHBISTS.  321 

of  his  wisdom,  considering  that  you  have  your  Mercury 
in  worship  under  the  title  of  the  Word  and  Messenger 
of  God. 

"  As  to  the  objection  of  our  Jesus  being  crucified,  I 
say  that  suffering  was  common  to  all  the  foremention- 
ed  sons  of  Jove,  but  only  they  suffered  another  kind 
of  death.  As  to  his  being  born  of  a  virgin,  you  have 
your  Perseus  to  balance  that.  As  to  his  curing  the 
lame  and  the  paralytic  and  such  as  were  cripples 
from  birth,  this  is  little  more  than  what  you  say  of 
your  ^sculapius." 

St.  Augustine  says :  "  For  the  thing  itself  which  is 
now  called  the  Christian  religion  really  was  known  to 
the  ancients,  nor  was  not  wanting  at  any  time  from  the 
beginning  of  the  human  race  until  the  time  when  Christ 
came  in  the  flesh,  from  whence  the  true  religion  which 
had  previously  existed  began  to  be  called  Christian ; 
and  this  in  our  day  is  the  Christian  religion,  not  as 
having  been  wanting  in  former  times,  but  as  having 
in  later  times  received  this  name." 

A  fellow  and  tutor  in  Trinity  College  and  lecturer 
on  ancient  history  in  the  University  of  Dublin  (Mr. 
Mahaffy)  closes  one  of  his  lectures  in  the  following 
manner :  "  There  is,  indeed,  hardly  a  great  or  fruitful 
idea  in  the  Jewish  or  Christian  system  which  has  not 
its  analogy  in  the  (ancient)  Egyptian  faith.  The  devel- 
opment of  the  one  God  into  a  tnnity  ;  the  incarnation 
of  the  mediating  deity  in  a  virgin,  and  without  a 
father ;  his  conflict  and  his  momentary  defeat  by  the 
powers  of  darkness ;  his  partial  victory  (for  the  enemy 

21 


322  SKELETON  KEYS. 

is  not  destroyed) ;  his  resurrection  and  reign  over  an 
eternal  kingdom  with  his  justified  saints ;  his  distinc- 
tion from,  and  yet  identity  with,  the  unereate  incom- 
prehensible Father,  whose  form  is  unknown  and  who 
dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with  hands, — all  these 
theological  conceptions  pervade  the  oldest  religion  of 
Egypt.  So,  too,  the  contrast  and  even  the  apparent 
inconsistencies  between  our  moral  and  theological  be- 
liefs— the  vacillating  attribution  of  sin  and  guilt  partly 
to  moral  weakness,  partly  to  the  interference  of  evil 
spirits,  and  likewise  of  righteousness  to  moral  worth, 
and  again  to  help  of  good  genii  or  angels ;  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  and  its  final  judgment, — ail  these  things 
have  met  us  in  the  Egyptian  ritual  and  moral  treatises. 
So,  too,  the  purely  human  side  of  morals  and  the  cata- 
logue of  virtues  and  vices  are  by  natural  consequences  as 
like  as  are  the  theological  systems.  But  I  recoil  from 
opening  this  great  subject  noio  ;  it  is  enough  to  have  lifted 
the  veil  and  shown  the  scene  of  many  a  future  contest." 

Indeed,  the  ablest  of  the  Christian  Fathers  never 
claimed  that  Christianity  was  a  new  religion  recently 
and  specially  revealed  by  Jesus,  but  made  many  ad- 
missions quite  to  the  contrary.  Clarke  in  his  Evidences 
says  that  the  most  ancient  writers  of  the  Church  did 
not  scruple  to  acknowledge  the  Athenian  Socrates  a 
Christian. 

Clemens  Alexandrinus,  of  the  second  century  (a.  d. 
194),  wrote:  "And  those  who  lived  according  to  the 
Logos  were  really  Christians;"  that  is  to  say,  those 
who  practically  accepted  the  Greek  conception  of  a 


JESUS  AND  OTHER  CHitlSTS.  323 

divine  incarnation  were  really  Christians.  And  why 
not,  for  is  not  John's  Gospel  an  elaboration  of  the 
Neo-Platonisni  of  the  Greeks?  and  is  not  the  whole 
Christian  scheme  an  ingenious  combination  of  Judaism 
and  Oriental  philosophy? 

Lactantius  well  said :  "  If  there  had  been  one  to 
have  collected  the  truth  that  was  scattered  and  diffused 
among  the  sects  into  one,  and  to  have  reduced  it  into 
a  system,  there  would  indeed  have  been  no  difference 
between  him  and  us."  Could  anything  be  more  em- 
phatic than  this  admission  of  a  Christian  Father  of  the 
fourth  century  that  Christianity  is  made  up  of  frag- 
ments of  other  religions? 

A  volume  might  be  filled  with  similar  admissions 
from  the  highest  Christian  authority,  for  it  would  be 
easy  to  show  that  it  was  the  main  argument  of  Justin 
Martyr  (a.  d.  141)  that  the  Christian  religion  contained 
nothing  that  might  not  be  found  in  all  earlier  religions, 
and  that  therefore  its  votaries  deserved  toleration  and 
protection  rather  than  persecution. 

Compare  the  following,  furnished  by  Mr.  Johnson, 
with  the  teachings  of  Jesus  : 

"  When  you  have  shut  your  doors  and  darkened  your 
room,  beware  of  saying  that  you  are  alone,  for  you  are 
not  alone,  for  God  is  within,  and  your  genius  is  within, 
and  what  need  have  they  of  light  to  see  what  you  are 
doing?"  {Epidet,  i.  14);  "Dare  look  up  to  God,  and 
say,  '  Use  me  as  thou  wilt.  I  am  one  with  thee.  I 
refuse  nothing  that  seems  good  to  thee.  Lead  me 
whither  thou  wilt'"  (ii.  16);    "Be  not  angry  with 


324  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  erring,  but  pity  them  rather"  (i.  18);  "Be  pa- 
tient, mild,  ready  to  forgive,  severe  to  none,  knowing 
that  the  soul  is  never  willingly  deprived  of  truth" 
(ii.  22) ;  "  No  need  to  lift  up  the  hands  or  get  close  to 
the  ears  of  an  image,  so  as  to  be  heard.  God  is  near 
thee,  with  thee,  in  thee.  I  tell  thee,  Lucilius,  a  holy 
spirit  dwells  within  us,  beholder  of  our  conduct" 
(Seneca,  Ep.,  xli.) ;  "  Between  God  and  good  men  is 
friendship,  yea,  necessary  intimacy  "  (De  Prov.,  i.  5) ; 
"  What  use  in  concealment  from  men  ?  Nothing  is 
hid  from  God"  (Ep.,  Ixxxiii.  1);  "God  escapes  the 
eyes ;  he  is  seen  by  thought  only "  (Nat.  QucesL,  vii. 
30) ;  "  No  temples  are  to  be  built  to  him.  He  must 
be  hallowed  by  each  in  his  own  breast "  (Seneca,  quoted 
by  Lactantius,  Inst,  vi.  25) ;  "  Man's  primal  union  is 
with  God "  (Cicero,  Be  Leg.,  i.  7) ;  "  Virtue  is  the 
same  in  God  and  man ;  man  therefore  is  in  the  like- 
ness of  God  "  (ibid.). 

We  could  multiply  these  quotations  indefinitely,  but 
we  forbear.  The  fact  cannot  be  denied  that  Chris- 
tianity is  but  the  continuation  and  modification  of  the 
old  pagan  religions,  and  that  Egypt  has  to  be  largely 
credited  with  supplying  a  great  portion  of  the  subject- 
matter  of  our  so-called  "special  revelation."  We 
could  take  up  the  sun-gods  of  Egypt  and  show  that 
all  the  titles  and  offices  ascribed  to  them  are  given  to 
Jesus,  and  that  often  the  very  language  is  used.  "  Out 
of  Egypt  have  I  called  my  Son  "  is  emphatically  true, 
but  in  a  broader  and  wider  sense  than  is  generally  sup- 
posed.    This  will  be  more  clearly  shown  hereafter. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS. 

We  say  "  reverent "  out  of  pure  regard  to  the  feel- 
ings of  multitudes  of  devout  persons  who  verily  believe 
that  Jesus  was  and  is  God,  and  so  any  criticism  of  him 
is  simply  blasphemous.  This  subject  is  not  to  be  treat- 
ed in  a  light  or  frivolous  manner. 

We  say  "  reverent "  also  out  of  respect  to  a  smaller 
number  of  so-called  liberals  who  deny  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  but  who  nevertheless  believe  that  Jesus  was  the 
one  pre-eminently  good  and  wise  man,  and  that  no  man 
equal  to  him  ever  existed  or  ever  will  exist  upon  the 
face  of  this  earth  ;  that  he  was  the  special  Son  of  God, 
the  model  man,  worthy  of  worship  as  the  man  who 
possessed  so  much  of  the  divine  spirit  as  to  entitle  him 
to  the  place  of  honor  and  grateful  remembrance  among 
men  for  all  time  and  in  all  countries. 

We  think  it  more  honest  and  respectful  to  reverently 
inquire  into  the  evidences  of  his  divine  character,  and 
not  to  accept  with  blind  credulity  what  other  men  say. 
We  are  endowed  with  reason,  and  it  seems  to  us  proper 
that  we  should  exercise  our  rational  faculties,  and  not 
ignore  them  altogether.  Honest  doubt  must  be  more 
acceptable  to  him,  if  he  is  God,  than  unreasoning  faith. 

Now,  we  propose  to  look  at  him  in  the  light  of  the 

325 


326  SKELETON  KEYS. 

New  Testament,  and  especially  of  the  Gospels,  assuming 
them  to  be  authentic.  We  shall  here  pass  by  his  in- 
fancy and  childhood  (utterly  ignoring  the  doubtful  and 
controverted  passages  concerning  his  immaculate  con- 
ception and  miraculous  birth),  and  take  the  first  direct 
account  we  have  of  his  life.  This  commences  when  he 
was  about  twdve  years  of  age.  We  are  told  that  he 
accompanied  his  mother  and  putative  father  to  Jeru- 
salem, whither  they  went  to  attend  the  feast  of  the 
Passover.  Luke  states  that  he  strayed  away  from  his 
parents,  who  were  greatly  concerned  for  his  safety,  but 
he  was  at  length  found  in  the  temple  among  the  doc- 
tors asking  and  answering  wonderful  questions,  so  as 
to  astonish  all  who  heard  him  with  his  wonderful 
knowledge.  His  mother  gently  reproved  him  for  giv- 
ing them  so  much  anxiety,  and  he  answered  back, 
rather  impatiently,  "How  is  it  that  ye  sought  me? 
Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi- 
ness ?"  But  he  went  home  with  his  parents  and  was 
subject  to  them,  and  for  at  least  eighteen  years  dwelt 
with  them  and  his  brothers  James,  Joses,  Judas,  and 
Simon.  The  names  of  his  several  sisters  are  not  given. 
During  these  eighteen  years  he  is  supposed  to  have 
learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter  and  worked  with  his 
reputed  father,  who  was  a  carpenter,  spending  the  most 
vigorous  portion  of  his  life  in  manual  labor,  only  de- 
voting about  three  years  to  his  mission  as  the  Messiah. 
Now,  Jesus  is  held  up  as  an  "example,"  and  we  are 
"  to  follow  his  steps,"  and  it  does  not  appear  that  there 
was  anything  in  his  example  specially  worthy  of  imi- 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.        327 

tation  for  about  thirty  years.  We  must  find  it  in  the 
last  years  of  his  earthly  career  if  we  find  it  at  all. 

The  first  instance  in  which  the  evangelists  bring 
Jesus  forward  as  a  moral  teacher  is  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  This  discourse  is  supposed  by  Christians 
to  be  the  masterpiece  of  wisdom  and  deep  spiritual  in- 
sight. While  Matthew  gives  it  as  a  complete  discourse, 
Mark  and  Luke  intersperse  the  substance  of  the  sermon 
throughout  their  Gospels ;  which  is  strong  presumptive 
proof  that  it  was  not  delivered  as  a  connected  discourse. 
Like  the  book  of  Proverbs,  it  seems  to  be  a  collection 
of  the  moral  sayings  of  former  times,  many  of  which 
can  be  pointed  out,  with  slight  verbal  alterations,  in 
the  writings  of  pagan  authors  and  of  more  modern 
Jews  of  the  Hillel  school.  In  fact,  there  is  nothing  in 
the  sermon  which  had  not  been  taught  by  many  others 
a  long  time  before,  while  there  is  much  that  is  absurd 
and  impracticable,  not  to  say  untrue  and  unjust.  Even 
the  deep  spirituality  involved  in  recognizing  the  spirit 
and  intent  of  the  law  can  be  paralleled  by  several  pas- 
sages in  Buddhistic  scriptures.  The  so-called  "  Golden 
Rule  "  was  announced  by  Confucius  as  an  axiom  nearly 
five  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  both  in  its  posi- 
tive and  its  negative  form,  while  the  same  maxim  is 
laid  down  in  most  choice  and  beautiful  language  by 
Isocrates,  Aristotle,  Sextus,  Pittacus,  Thales,  and  many 
others  from  three  to  six  centuries  before  Christ. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  though  it  is 
often  asserted  that  Jesus  first  taught  the  "  Fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man."     This  is  not 


328  SKELETON  KEYS. 

true.  The  "  Lord's  Prayer "  is  found  in  the  ancient 
Jewish  rituals,  and  is  entitled  a  "  Prayer  to  the  Father," 
and  the  expression  "  Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven  " 
is  common  to  many,  if  not  all,  nations  and  religions. 

While  there  are  several  things  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  truly  beautiful,  there  is  nothing  that  is  strictly 
original ;  there  are  many  sayings  which  show  a  great 
lack  of  knowledge,  and  that  are  positively  impracticable 
and  immoral  in  their  tendency.  No  Christian  tries  to 
keep  these  sayings.  It  would  lead  to  vagabondism 
and  would  convert  a  nation  into  a  crowd  of  tramps. 
It  would  be  positively  immoral  to  obey  them.  If 
Jesus  did  not  intend  that  his  teachings  should  be  taken 
according  to  the  common  sense  of  the  words  used,  why 
did  he  not  say  so  ?  What  is  language  for  but  to  ex- 
press one's  meaning  ?  So  far  from  teaching  the  non- 
resistance  of  evil,  in  other  places  he  runs  into  the 
extreme  of  teaching  revenge.  (See  Luke  10  :  10-12  ; 
Matt.  10  :  14,  15  ;  Mark  6  :  11.)  He  also  sanctions 
the  most  gross  injustice.  He  commends  the  unjust 
steward  (Luke  16:5-8),  saying  that  he  had  "done 
wisely  "  in  cheating  his  employer  by  compounding  with 
his  creditors,  and  advises  his  hearers  to  make  "  friends  " 
of  the  "  mammon  of  unrighteousness." 

Moreover,  whoever  is  familiar  with  the  teachings 
ascribed  to  Jesus  must  know  that  his  first  condition 
of  discipleship  is  the  total  surrender  of  all  worldly  pos- 
sessions and  the  non-accumulaiion  of  earthly  treasures 
thereafter  (Matt.  16  :  24 ;  Luke  14  :  26,  27  ;  Matt.  19, 
etc.).     Can  words  be  more  emphatic  than  the  utter- 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.         329 

ances  of  Jesus  reported  in  Matt.  6  :  19-34  ? — "  Lay  not 
up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth,  where  moth 
and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  break  through 
and  steal."  .  .  .  "For  where  your  treasure  is,  there 
will  your  heart  be  also."  ..."  Ye  cannot  serve  God 
and  mammon."  ..."  Therefore  I  say  unto  you,  Take 
no  thought  for  your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat  or  what  ye 
shall  drink,  nor  yet  for  your  body,  what  ye  shall  put 
on."  This  absolute  unconcern  about  food  and  raiment 
is  emphasized  by  repeating  the  injunction  twice : 
"  Therefore  take  no  thought,  saying.  What  shall  we 
eat  ?  or,  What  shall  we  drink  ?  or,  Wherewithal  shall 
we  be  clothed  ?"  .  .  .  "  Take  therefore  no  thought  for 
the  morrow,  for  the  morrow  shall  take  thought  for  the 
things  of  itself." 

The  attempts  of  theologians  to  modify  these  precepts 
are  most  preposterous.  They  tell  us  that  Jesus  meant 
to  discourage  anodous  thought  about  worldly  possessions 
and  wants — that  he  intended  to  condemn  undue  anxiety 
and  worriment  of  mind  ;  and  they  even  assert  that  the 
original  word  implies  and  justifies  this  rendering.  To 
this  it  may  be  replied,  We  cannot  be  certain  as  to  what 
particular  words  Jesus  used,  as  we  have  no  manuscripts 
of  the  Gospels  dating  back  to  within  four  hundred 
years  of  his  time,  and  the  alleged  copies  that  we  have 
are  not  authenticated ;  so  that  an  argument,  even  if 
justified  by  learned  criticism,  based  upon  the  implied 
meaning  of  particular  words  is  useless,  unless  we  are 
sure,  as  we  cannot  be,  that  Jesus  used  those  very  words, 
and  that  he  intended  that  his  disciples  and  other  un- 


330  SKELETON  KEYS. 

learned  and  uncritical  hearers  should  accept  the  implied 
rather  than  the  obvious  meaning. 

But,  taking  the  words  in  the  Greek  manuscripts  of 
the  Gospels  now  most  approved  by  scholars,  we  deny 
that  there  is  anything  in  them  to  justify  the  interpola- 
tion of  the  word  "  anxious  "  between  the  words  "  no  " 
aud  "  thought."  There  is  the  highest  classical  author- 
ity for  the  assertion  that  the  verb  employed  here  simply 
means  to  "  care,"  "  to  be  careful,"  "  to  heed,"  and  is  so 
translated  in  other  portions  of  the  New  Testament,  as, 
for  examples,  in  1  Cor.  7  :  32,  33,  34 ;  Phil.  4:6; 
1  Pet.  5:7;  and  in  many  other  passages.  When  Paul 
exhorted  the  Philippians  to  be  "  careful  for  nothing," 
because  the  Lord  was  about  to  appear  in  judgment,  he 
obviously  meant  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to  make 
any  provision  for  future  bodily  wants. 

It  is  a  universally-admitted  principle  of  critical  inter- 
pretation that  the  meaning  of  words  in  any  given  text 
must  be  determined  from  the  context,  the  connection  in 
which  the  word  occurs.  It  so  happens  that  Jesus  has 
illustrated  his  doctrine  in  this  connection  so  as  to  make 
it  impossible  to  doubt  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  words 
employed  :  "  Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air,  for  they  sow 
not,  neither  do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns ;  yet 
your  heavenly  Father  feedeth  them.  Are  not  ye  much 
better  than  they  ?"  .  .  .  "  And  why  take  ye  thought 
for  raiment  ?  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they 
grow ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin,  and  I  say 
unto  you  that  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed 
like  one  of  these." 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.         331 

The  use  of  the  illative  word,  "  icherefore,  if  God  so 
clothe  the  grass,"  and  the  word  "  therefore  take  no 
thought,"  show  beyond  doubt  that  Jesus  intended  to 
teach,  and  did  teach,  that  his  disciples  were  to  be  as  in- 
diflPerent  to  matters  of  food  and  clothing  as  are  the  birds 
of  the  air  and  the  flowers  of  the  field.  Not  only  did 
he  use  words  that  sanction  the  utmost  improvidence  in 
regard  to  future  bodily  wants,  but  he  gave  the  sense  in 
which  his  words  were  to  be  received  by  referring  them 
to  the  well-known  unconcern  of  the  birds  and  lilies. 

But  it  may  be  further  shown  what  Jesus  meant  to 
teach  by  reference  to  his  own  life  and  the  lives  of  his 
first  followers.  There  is  little  or  no  evidence  in  the 
Gospels  or  elsewhere  that  Jesus  or  his  first  disciples 
ever  possessed  any  earthly  goods  whatever,  or  that 
they  ever  engaged  in  any  of  the  useful  or  wealth- 
producing  avocations  of  the  country  in  which  they 
lived.  Matthew  speaks  of  Jesus  as  the  son  of  a  car- 
penter, and  Mark  calls  hira  "  the  carpenter,  the  son 
of  Mary."  The  fervid  imaginations  of  modern  writers 
have  depicted  Jesus  as  an  apprentice  to  his  father  and 
laboring  at  the  carpenter's  trade,  but  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  he  ever  pushed  a  plane  or  drove  a  nail. 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  he  ever  erected  a 
house  for  others,  and  it  is  certain  that  he  never  built  a 
house  for  himself,  for  he  has  told  us  that  "  the  foxes 
have  holes  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the 
Son  of  man  has  not  where  to  lay  his  head."  There  is 
not  in  any  of  the  Gospels  one  single  word  accredited  to 
Jesus  in  favor  of  industrial  pursuits,  not  one  syllable 


332  SKELETON  KEYS. 

to  justify  the  accumulation  of  property,  or  any  fore- 
thought whatever  for  sickness,  for  helpless  infancy,  or 
tottering  age. 

When  Jesus  sent  out  his  disciples  he  expressly  for- 
bade them  to  make  any  provision  for  food  or  raiment. 
He  said,  "  Provide  neither  gold  or  silver  nor  brass  in 
your  purses,  nor  scrip  for  your  journey,  neither  two 
coats,  neither  shoes,  nor  yet  staves,  for  the  workman  is 
worthy  of  his  meat."  They  were  to  throw  themselves 
upon  the  charities  of  the  world,  accept  such  things  as 
were  given  them,  and  to  manifest  the  utmost  indiffer- 
ence to  worldly  comforts.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
any  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  who  listened  to  his  per- 
sonal instructions  ever  engaged  in  any  worldly  avoca- 
tion, except  to  catch  a  mess  of  fish  when  driven  by 
hunger  to  do  so.  They  lived  from  "  hand  to  mouth," 
and  if  they  had  lived  in  our  day  they  would,  every 
one  of  them,  have  been  denominated  "  tramps,"  and 
would  have  been  amenable  to  our  modern  laws  of 
vagrancy.  'Tis  true,  there  seems  to  have  been  some 
sort  of  care  about  future  possible  wants,  but  only  on 
the  communistic  principle.  They  had  a  treasurer  in 
the  person  of  Judas  Iscariot,  but  no  indwidual  posses- 
sions were  allowed.  We  are  told  (Acts  4  :  26)  regard- 
ing early  Christians,  "  Neither  was  there  any  among 
them  that  lacked ;  for  as  many  as  were  possessors  of 
lands  or  houses  sold  them  and  brought  the  prices  of 
the  things  that  were  sold,  and  laid  them  down  at  the 
apostles'  feet,  and  distribution  was  made  unto  every 
man  according  as  he  had  need."     In  Acts  2  :  44,  45 


A  BEVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.        333 

the  facts  are  also  fully  set  forth :  "  And  all  that  be- 
lieved were  together  and  had  all  things  common,  and 
sold  their  possessions  and  goods,  and  parted  them  to 
all  men  as  every  man  had  need."  Whatever  was 
allovi^ed  as  a  community,  it  is  certain  that  no  individ- 
ual was  allowed  to  accumulate  or  retain  property  on 
his  own  personal  account. 

In  perfect  consistency  with  the  view  here  presented 
Jesus  taught  that  the  possession  of  riches  was  almost 
sure  to  debar  one  from  heaven — ^that  while  it  might  be 
possible  for  a  rich  man  to  be  saved,  because  all  things 
are  possible  with  God,  nevertheless  it  is  "  easier  for  a 
camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich 
man  to  enter  into  heaven."  Riches  were  always  de- 
nounced by  Jesus,  and  poverty  eulogized  as  if  it  were 
a  virtue  in  itself,  commending  one  to  the  favor  of  God 
and  greatly  increasing  his  prospects  for  the  heavenly 
inheritance.  If  the  triple  testimony  of  the  synoptical 
Gospels  amounts  to  anything,  it  shows  beyond  a  doubt 
that  Jesus  would  accept  no  man  as  a  disciple  who  con- 
tinued in  the  possession  of  worldly  property,  or  who 
accumulated  earthly  riches,  or  who  allowed  himself  to 
think  of  the  future  necessaries  of  life,  even  food  and 
clothing.  At  the  same  time,  the  most  promiscuous  and 
profuse  almsgiving  was  enjoined :  "  Sell  all  that  thou 
hast  and  give  unto  the  poor,"  was  the  literal  injunction. 
"Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee,  and  from  him  that 
would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not  thou  away." 

Besides  this,  he  required  absolute  non-resistance : 
"  But  I  say  unto  you  that  ye  resist  not  evil,  but  who- 


334  SKELETON  KEYS.  " 

soever  shall  smite  thee  on  thy  right  cheek  turn  to  him 
the  other  also ;"  "  And  whosoever  shall  compel  thee  to 
go  a  mile,  go  with  him  twain ;"  "  And  if  any  man  will 
sue  thee  at  the  law  and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have 
thy  cloak  also."  This  is  even  more  than  non-resist- 
ance ;  it  is  a  reward  for  unprincipled  men  to  impose 
upon  you.  It  would  be  impossible  to  state  the  prin- 
ciple of  absolute  non-resistance  in  stronger  language. 
But  modern  commentators  tell  us  that  Jesus  did  not 
intend  to  be  so  understood — that  he  merely  intended 
to  condemn  the  spirit  of  strife  and  retaliation.  Why, 
then,  did  he  not  say  so?  Which  shall  we  accept — 
what  Jesus  plainly  and  repeatedly  said,  or  what  com- 
mentators say  he  meant? 

What  are  we  to  say  about  the  doctrine  of  bodily  mu- 
tilation taught  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (Matt.  5  : 
29,  30)?  Theologians  of  to-day  tell  us  that  these 
words  are  to  be  taken  in  a  metaphorical  sense — that  to 
secure  salvation  we  must  sacrifice  every  passion  that 
would  lead  us  into  sin,  though  it  might  be  as  dear  as  a 
right  hand,  foot,  or  eye.  The  reason  assigned  by  Jesus 
for  enforcing  this  precept  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the 
assumption  that  it  was  intended  to  be  figurative :  "  For 
it  is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should 
perish,  and  not  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast  into 
hell."  If  by  members  of  the  body  Jesus  meant  prin- 
ciples or  passions  that  might  tempt  and  entrap  one  into 
evil,  we  must  charge  upon  the  precept  the  absurdity 
that  it  would  be  better  to  enter  into  heaven  with  one 
evil  principle  or  passion  than  to  be  cast  into  hell  with 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.         335 

many  evil  principles  and  passions  !  The  literal  interpre- 
tation is  favored  by  the  fact  that  in  ancient  times  bod- 
ily mutilation  was  recognized  in  religious  matters.  In 
Matt.  19:12,  Jesus  is  reported  to  have  said,  "And 
there  be  eunuchs,  which  have  made  themselves  eunuchs 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake.  He  that  is  able  to 
receive  it,  let  him  receive  it."  If  this  is  not  a  sanc- 
tion of  bodily  mutilation,  what  can  it  mean  ?  That  it 
was  understood  literally  by  many  early  Christians  cannot 
be  denied.  The  ascetics  of  the  second  century  practised 
the  most  extreme  literal  mortification  of  the  flesh,  and 
even  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century  Origen,  one  of 
the  most  learned  of  the  Christian  Fathers,  destroyed 
his  own  manhood  by  bodily  mutilation  as  an  act  of 
piety.  Much  curious  matter  upon  this  subject  may  be 
found  in  Mosheira's  Ecclesiastical  History,  page  310, 
and  also  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  xv.  and 
notes. 

The  fairest  and  most  reasonable  way  to  ascertain  what 
Jesus  taught  is  to  study  his  own  life,  and  then  to  fol- 
low his  example.  It  will  be  somewhat  startling  to 
many  when  we  announce  the  proposition  that  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Christian  Gospels  is  monastic  and  ascetic 
in  the  extreme,  and  that  Jesus  himself  was  an  ascetic, 
and  that  he  required  his  disciples  to  become  such. 
One  thing  is  certain  :  No  man  can  study  the  character 
of  Jesus  and  his  teachings,  his  own  life  and  the  career 
of  his  immediate  disciples,  without  admitting  the 
monkish  character  of  their  religion.  It  was  emphat- 
ically the  religion  of  sorrow,  the  religion  not  only  of 


336  SKELETON  KEYS. 

mi^i-naturalism,  but  of  wnnaturalism.  It  virtually  said  : 
"  Whatever  is  natural  is  wrong ;  whatever  you  desire 
is  wrong.  To  do  what  is  painful  is  right,  while  to  do 
what  you  want  to  do  is  certain  ruin.  Life  must  be 
one  incessant  wail  of  suffering  if  it  is  to  be  followed 
with  eternal  blessedness.  The  body  is  the  enemy  of 
the  soul,  and  the  world  the  enemy  of  God.  Worldly 
prosperity  is  a  curse  in  disguise,  while  poveiiy  and 
want  and  persecution  and  suffering  of  all  kinds  are 
indications  of  the  divine  favor."  (See  Secret  of  the 
East,  by  Dr.  Felix  L.  Oswald.) 

At  the  very  commencement  of  his  public  career 
Jesus  formed  an  alliance  with  that  hardiest  of  anchor- 
ites known  as  John  the  Baptist,  and  in  all  the  Gospels 
the  close  relationship  between  the  missions  of  John  and 
Jesus  is  constantly  recognized.  It  is  a  tradition  of  the 
early  Church  that  Jesus  was  never  known  to  smile,  and 
there  is  an  implication  in  the  Gospels  that  his  face  was 
prematurely  old.  He  recommended  a  life  of  religious 
mendicancy  and  voluntary  poverty  as  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  admission  to  his  kingdom. 

But  there  was  scarce  anything  in  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  that  had  not  been  insisted  upon  for  hundreds  of 
years  before  by  the  monks  of  India,  Egypt,  and  other 
countries.  It  is  impossible  to  go  into  details,  but  no 
man  of  reading  will  deny  this  allegation.  Like  the 
ancient  monks,  Jesus  practised  long  fastings  and  ab- 
stained from  flesh  meats,  though  he  ate  fish  and  vege- 
tables. He  neither  possessed  nor  sought  to  acquire 
any  worldly  property.     While  going  about  the  streets 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.        337 

and  the  seashore  teaching  by  day,  he  generally  resorted, 
like  ancient  monks,  to  the  mountains  and  wilderness  at 
night,  and  his  principal  religious  devotions  were  per- 
formed in  the  darkness  of  midnight.  He  abstained 
from  marriage,  and  had  but  little  regard  for  the  do- 
mestic relations.  Asceticism  was  the  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  the  early  Church,  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  community  of  goods  was  practically  received  by 
the  Church  for  two  hundred  years,  and  is  so  received 
by  many  to-day. 

So  far  from  practically  condemning  the  literal  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  as  we  find  them  in  the  Gospels,  we  take 
the  ground  that  they  were  just  what  might  have  been 
expected  from  one  holding  the  doctrine  that  the  world 
was  about  to  be  destroyed  and  a  new  kingdom  estab- 
lished upon  the  regenerated  earth,  of  which  he  was  to 
be  the  king  and  his  disciples  the  princes.  If  there  was 
anything  definite  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  it  was  the 
speedy  coming  of  the  end  of  the  world.  Carefully 
study  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Matthew,  the  thir- 
teenth of  Mark,  and  the  twenty-firet  of  Luke  if  you 
have  any  doubts  upon  this  subject. 

The  attempt  of  theologians  to  make  it  appear  that 
Jesus  only  referred  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  is 
most  absurd.  It  virtually  charges  Jesus  with  the  in- 
consistency of  giving  information  upon  one  subject 
when  his  disciples  desired  information  upon  another. 
They  asked  him  for  signs  that  should  precede  the  de- 
struction of  the  world,  and  he  distinctly  affirmed, 
"This  generation  shall  not  pass  away  till  all  these 

22 


338  SKELETON  KEYS. 

things  are  fulfilled;"  "There  be  some  standing  here 
that  shall  not  taste  death  till  they  see  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  his  kingdom"  (Matt.  16:28).  The  doc- 
trine of  the  almost  immediate  end  of  all  mundane 
things  as  they  then  existed  is  the  only  key  to  unlock 
what  seems  so  absurd  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  If  he 
believed  what  he  taught  as  to  the  speedy  end  of  the 
world,  it  was  perfectly  consistent  for  him  to  condemn 
the  holding  or  accumulating  of  property,  and  to  com- 
mend the  most  indiscriminate  almsgiving,  the  most 
absolute  non-resistance,  with  bodily  mortification  and 
mutilation,  and  a  life  of  unworldliness  and  practical 
mendicancy  and  poverty.  Jesus  and  his  disciples 
taught  and  acted  just  as  men  would  teach  and  act  if 
they  believed  that  the  end  of  the  world  was  at  hand. 
His  disciples  so  understood  him. 

In  the  year  960  a.  d.  there  was  in  the  Christian 
Church  a  revival  of  this  doctrine,  and  the  speedy  end 
of  the  world  and  the  second  coming  of  Jesus  were  pro- 
claimed with  great  earnestness.  The  clergy  as  a  class 
adopted  it,  and  encouraged  people  to  give  away  their 
possessions.  A  universal  panic  prevailed  ;  all  business 
was  suspended ;  men  abandoned  their  families,  and 
multitudes  undertook  a  pilgrimage  to  Palestine  to 
meet  their  returning  Lord. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  mention  the  craze  of  "  Mil- 
lerism"  in  1843  in  this  country,  when  many,  in  per- 
fect consistency  with  their  belief,  gave  up  their  posses- 
sions and  prepared  their  "  ascension  robes,"  and  waited 
anxiously  for  the  end.     If  the  clergy  of  all  denomina- 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.         339 

tions  should  now  unite  in  proclaiming  just  what  Jesus 
predicted  concerning  the  end  of  the  world,  just  in  pro- 
portion as  people  sincerely  believed  the  message  they 
would  at  once  literally  accept  the  teachings  of  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  and  act  accordingly. 

This  leads  us  to  the  inevitable  conclusion  that  much 
of  what  Jesus  taught  can  only  be  understood  and  jus- 
tified by  his  particular  view  and  representation  of  the 
almost  immediate  end  of  all  earthly  things ;  and  this 
understanding  of  the  subject  is  much  more  creditable 
to  Jesus  as  a  teacher  than  the  assumption  that  he  failed 
to  make  himself  understood,  and  that  he  did  not  mean 
what  he  said,  though  both  he  and  his  disciples  prac- 
tically in  their  lives  exemplified  the  unworldliness  and 
asceticism  that  he  preached. 

We  submit  as  a  key  tt)  the  enigmas  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  and  other  hard  sayings  attributed  to 
Jesus  that  he  and  his  disciples  believed  and  taught  that 
this  world  was  about  to  be  made  new,  that  the  then 
present  order  was  about  to  terminate,  and  that  therefore 
earthly  possessions  and  pursuits  were  of  no  consequence, 
and  even  the  domestic  relations  were  of  little  account. 

That  the  teachings  and  examples  of  Jesus  (in  many 
respects)  cannot  be  accepted  by  the  people  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  without  a  complete  overthrow  of  existing 
institutions  .and  forms  of  civilization  is  a  self-evident 
fact.  We  must  abandon  all  industrial  pursuits,  change 
all  our  views  of  the  rights  of  property,  adopt  the  com- 
munistic principle  and  policy,  and  lead  lowly  lives  of 
self-denial  and  bodily  mortification  and  discomfort. 


340  SKELETON  KEYS. 

We  repeat  that  the  teachings  and  example  of  Jesus 
were  natural  and  rational  from  his  conviction  of  the  aj>- 
proaching  end  of  all  things. 

It  would  be  easy  to  point  out  many  other  things  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  equally  defective  and  offen- 
sive to  reason  and  common  sense,  but  we  forbear.  We 
have  dwelt  upon  this  celebrated  sermon  at  such  length 
because  it  is  held  up  as  a  model  of  moral  teaching. 
We  pronounce  it  a  very  inferior  compilation  of  things 
good  and  bad,  not  at  all  corresponding  with  proper 
ideas  of  practical  morality,  and  not  adapted  to  the 
present  necessities  of  civilization. 

What  is  said  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  may  be 
said  of  many  portions  of  the  alleged  teachings  of  Jesus. 
We  mention  only  a  few  instances.  The  parable  of  the 
Unjust  Steward  justifies  a  worldly  cunning  and  a  de- 
cidedly dishonest  act  (Luke  16  :  5-8).  Jesus  com- 
mends him,  saying  that  "  he  had  done  wisely "  in 
cheating  his  principal,  and  advises  his  disciples  to 
"  make  to  them  friends  of  the  mammon  of  unright- 
eousness." A  more  grossly  dishonest  act  could  not 
have  been  committed  by  a  person  acting  in  a  fiduciary 
capacity.  To  follow  his  example  would  overthrow  all 
business  integrity  and  lead  to  universal  knavery. 

In  the  parable  of  the  Unjust  Judge  he  gives  a  very 
low  and  anthropomorphic  view  of  God  and  the  efficacy 
of  prayer.  It  is  this :  A  certain  woman  went  to  a 
judge  for  a  certain  favor,  and  he  would  not  grant  her 
request.  She  persisted,  and  finally  he  said,  "  Though 
I  fear  not  God  nor  regard  man,  yet  because  this  widow 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.        341 

troubleth  me  I  will  avenge  her,  lest  by  her  continual 
coming  she  weary  me."  Then  the  lesson  taught : 
"  And  shall  not  God  avenge  his  own  elect  which  cry 
unto  him  day  and  night,  though  he  bear  long  with 
them  ?"  This  certainly  teaches  that  if  one  teases  and 
worries  God  long  enough,  he  will  answer  the  prayer 
without  regard  to  the  rightfulness  of  the  petition.  Dr. 
Adam  Clark  says  in  his  Commentary  that  the  expres- 
sion "  she  weary  me "  is  a  metaphor  taken  from  box- 
ers, '•  who  bruise  each  other  about  the  face,  blacken  the 
eyes!"  We  forbear  to  remark  on  this  blasphemous 
doctrine. 

We  pass  on  without  specifying  the  manifestly  unjust 
principles  laid  down  in  the  parables  of  the  Laborers  in 
the  Vineyard,  the  Ten  Talents,  the  Great  Feast,  and 
other  parables,  the  manner  in  which  he  treated  the 
woman  of  Canaan,  the  mystification  and  evasions  he 
used,  leaving  her  in  doubt  with  regard  to  his  real 
meaning,  and  the  many  instances  in  which  he  gave 
irrelevant  answers  and  unfair  and  illogical  conclusions. 
His  teachings  were  notable  for  their  obscurity  and  am- 
biguity ;  he  tells  us  he  did  not  desire  to  be  understood ; 
and  no  wonder  that  his  most  trusted  disciples  wrangled 
about  his  true  meaning  and  came  to  opposite  conclu- 
sions. His  own  family  did  not  believe  in  him,  and 
some  persons  thought  him  insane.  Indeed,  his  mys- 
terious and  enigmatical  style  is  so  marked  that  it  sug- 
gests whether,  after  all,  what  is  said  to  have  been 
spoken  by  Jesus  was  not  the  utterances  and  traditions 
of  initiates  in  the  second  Christian  century? 


342  SKELETON  KEYS. 

The  claim  of  autocratic  official  authority  to  forgive 
and  punish,  to  deny  before  God  those  M^ho  should  deny 
him  before  men,  to  denounce  whole  cities  for  want  of 
faith  in  him,  to  come  in  God's  name  to  judge  all  man- 
kind, to  proclaim  everlasting  punishment  and  declare 
that  some  should  never  be  forgiven,  mars  the  beauty 
of  Jesus'  character.  A  real  deficiency  in  his  teaching 
was  the  absence  of  any  explicit  declaration  of  human 
brotherhood.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  no  clear 
statement  of  this  idea  is  recorded  of  Jesus.  But  the 
lack  was  supplied  in  a  certain  form  by  Paul,  whose 
broader  ethnic  experience  and  more  liberal  culture 
made  him  recognize  the  demand  more  fully,  and  who 
was  therefore  bound  to  have  it  satisfied  in  his  religious 
ideal.  This  was  easy,  since  be  had  never  seen  Jesus, 
and  could  construct  his  personality  as  his  own  rever- 
ence and  sense  of  human  need  might  prompt. 

The  clearest  statement  of  human  brotherhood  in  the 
New  Testament  is  that  ascribed  to  Paul :  "  God  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  the  nations  of  the  earth."  Yet 
even  in  Paul's  mind  it  seems  to  have  been  conditioned 
on  faith  ia  his  Master.  All  were  "  members  of  one  an- 
other, whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  bond  or  free ;"  but  it 
was  only  in  so  far  as  they  were,  or  were  fit  to  be,  "  in 
the  body  of  Christ."  Cicero  and  Seneca  rest  human 
brotherhood  on  broader  and  deeper  foundations.  "  All 
are  members  of  one  great  body,"  says  Seneca  also ;  but 
in  what  sense  ?  "  By  the  constitution  of  nature,  which 
makes  us  kindred,  and  more  miserable  iq  doing  than  in 
receiving  an  injury ;  and  by  whose  sway  our  hands  are 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.         343 

prepared  for  mutual  help."  Paul  says,  "  In  Christ  is 
neither  bond  nor  free."  But  Seneca  says  more  broad- 
ly, "  Virtue  invites  all,  free-born,  slaves,  kings,  exiles. 
It  asks  no  questions  about  rank  or  wealth.  It  is  con- 
tent with  the  bare  man."  Again,  exhorting  Nero,  he 
says :  "  Do  not  ask  how  much  of  manumission  is  en- 
durable, but  how  much  the  nature  of  justice  and  good 
will  allows  you  which  bids  you  spare  even  captives 
and  persons  bought  with  a  price.  Let  slaves  find  ref- 
uge before  the  statute;  if  all  things  are  permitted  you 
(by  custom  and  ^ower)  against  a  slave,  there  is  that 
which  the  common  law  of  life  forbids  to  be  done  to  a 
man  ;  for  the  slave  is  of  the  same  nature  as  yourself." 
So  Cicero  says :  "  No  other  things  are  so  alike  as  we 
are  to  each  other ;"  "  There  is  no  one  of  any  nation 
who  cannot  reach  virtue  by  following  the  light  of 
nature ;"  "  The  foundation  of  law  is  that  nature  has 
made  us  for  the  love  of  mankind." 

Other  testimonies  to  like  effect  might  easily  be  ad- 
duced from  "  heathen  "  writers  of  that  age.  And  the 
later  Stoics  do  but  echo  the  thought  of  their  predeces- 
sors from  the  days  of  Zeno  and  Cleanthes  when  they 
reiterate  in  the  broadest  terms  the  belief  that  men  are 
created  for  the  very  purpose  of  mutual  good.  And 
Philo  says  :  "  We  all  are  brothers  by  the  highest  kind 
of  kindredship,  as  children  of  reason ;"  "  Slavery  is 
impious,  as  destroying  the  ordinances  of  nature,  which 
generated  all  equally  and  brought  them  up  as  if  breth- 
ren, not  in  name  only,  but  in  reality  and  truth."  But 
with   the   apostles  of  Christianity,  as  probably  with 


344  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Jesus  himself,  brotherhood  was  inseparable  from  be- 
lief in  "  the  Christ." 

But  let  us  not  overlook  the  facts  that  the  Gospels 
attribute  to  Jesus  certain  beliefs  which  our  present 
knowledge  positively  contradicts,  and  even  sentiments 
and  claims  which  the  highest  morality  cannot  approve. 
For  example,  take  his  belief  in  diabolic  possession ;  his 
claim  of  power  to  forgive  sins  and  to  judge  mankind 
with  his  disciples  on  twelve  thrones ;  his  denunciation 
of  cities  that  should  not  receive  his  messengers;  his 
official  retaliation  (Matt.  10  :  33) ;  flie  unpardonable 
sin;  his  giving  Peter  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  and  to  his  apostles  the  same  powers ;  the  sec- 
ond coming  of  the  Son  of  man,  with  destruction  of  the 
world  and  the  coming  judgment  day  within  that  gen- 
eration ;  condemning  to  endless  punishment  those  who 
have  not  succored  believers ;  no  salvation  to  those  found 
unrepentant  at  his  coming;  the  sinning  brother  who 
will  not  hear  the  Church  to  be  treated  as  a  heathen ; 
his  sweeping  denunciation  of  Pharisees  and  Scribes; 
a  personal  devil  and  an  everlasting  hell ;  power  over 
deadly  serpents  and  the  taking  of  poisons  without 
injury ;  the  working  of  miracles  by  faith,  even  to  the 
removing  of  mountains  and  tearing  up  trees,  raising 
the  dead,  etc.  etc.  etc. 

But  not  only  are  the  teachings  of  Jesus  subject  to 
criticism,  but  his  acts  are  equally  so.  Take  for  an  ex- 
ample the  manner  in  which  he  addressed  his  mother 
when  found  disputing  with  the  doctors  in  the  temple, 
but  more  particularly  hear  his  words  to  his  mother  at 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.         345 

the  wedding  in  Cana.  She  told  him  that  the  wine  had 
run  out,  and  he  answered  in  the  most  uncouth  manner, 
"  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?"  That  is  to 
say,  of  what  concern  was  his  mother  to  him,  and  what 
had  he  to  do  with  her  trouble  about  the  wine  being 
out  ?  Then  the  making  of  the  wine,  upon  which  the 
people  got  drunk,  was  by  no  means  worthy  of  imita- 
tion. The  quantity,  according  to  some  divines,  was 
not  less  than  two  or  three  hogsheads  of  intoxicating 
drink,  enough  to  last  the  balance  of  the  week.  The 
guests  were  already  drunk,  and,  though  the  wine  was 
made  out  of  water,  it  was  nevertheless  highly  intox- 
icating. We  might  also  mention  his  rude  answer  when 
his  mother  desired  to  speak  to  him  (Mark  3  :  21-35). 
At  the  time  of  his  triumphal  entrance  into  Jerusalem 
he  took  an  "  ass  and  colt,"  the  private  property  of  some 
person,  without  permission,  and  the  bystanders  so  un- 
derstood it.  He  went  immediately  to  the  temple  and 
beat  out  with  a  whip  all  the  merchants  (whom  he  calls 
thieves),  all  legitimate  dealers  in  animals  and  doves  for 
religious  sacrifice,  and  violently  overthrew  the  tables 
of  the  money-changers,  whose  business  seems  also  to 
have  been  legitimate.  This  act  was  a  "  breach  of  the 
peace,"  and  in  any  civilized  country  would  have  been 
followed  by  arrest  and  imprisonment.  It  was  not  right 
that  he  should  assert  his  authority  by  such  disorderly 
conduct,  and  that  too  upon  the  eve  of  the  celebration 
of  a  religious  ceremony.  When  waited  on  by  a  most 
respectable  deputation  of  public  men  who  served  of- 
ficially (Matt.  23  :  21)  and  inquired  of  him  "  by  what 


346  SKELETON  KEYS. 

authority  he  did  such  tilings,"  instead  of  answering 
them  frankly  and  making  known  to  them  his  mission, 
he  raised  an  irrelevant  question,  and  because  they  could 
not  tell  whether  "  John's  baptism  was  from  earth  or 
heaven,"  he  refused  to  give  any  apology  or  explanation 
of  his  most  treasonable  and  violent  actions.  He  ad- 
dressed the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  in  the  most  extreme 
language,  calling  them  "  vipers,"  "  blind  guides," 
"hypocrites,"  "serpents,"  etc.,  and  used  fulrainations 
that  were  calculated  to  excite  the  worst  passions  and 
the  most  atrocious  acts.  He  told  them  that  they  were 
"  whited  sepulchres  "  and  "  fools."  When  he  was  ac- 
cepting the  hospitalities  of  a  Pharisee  (Luke  11  :  37- 
64)  he  abused  and  denounced  both  the  host  and  his 
guests.  He  is  said  to  have  looked  on  the  Pharisees 
"with  anger,"  thus  violating  what  he  taught.  His 
unjustifiable  conduct  toward  the  "  barren  fig  tree  "  will 
not  be  overlooked.  It  was  not  the  season  for  figs ;  he 
had  no  right  to  expect  to  find  fruit  on  that  tree,  yet  he 
"  cursed  "  it,  and  here  again  destroyed  private  property 
without  rendering  an  equivalent.  So  with  the  swine  of 
the  Gadarenes.  This  story  is  childish  and  wicked,  and 
his  action  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  animals  which 
must  have  been  valued  at  about  four  thousand  pounds 
sterling.  He  was  also  chargeable  with  dissimulation 
greatly  at  variance  with  moral  rectitude.  When  his 
brothers  would  have  him  go  to  Jerusalem  to  attend  the 
feast  of  tabernacles  he  declined,  and  advised  them  to  go 
without  him.  But  when  they  had  gone,  "  then  went  he 
up  also  to  the  feast,  as  it  were  in  secret "  (John  7  :  2-10). 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.         347 

He  certainly  here  practised  deceit.  When  walking 
with  the  two  disciples  to  Emmaus  he  pretended  to 
be  another  person,  and  when  they  arrived  there  he 
"  made  as  though  he  would  go  farther ;"  that  is,  he 
pretended  what  he  did  not  intend  (Luke  24  :  13).  He 
practised  the  utmost  dissimulation  in  several  particulars 
in  the  aifair  of  Judas,  and  carried  it  even  farther  than 
the  traitor.  (Read  and  study  Matt.  26  :  46-50  and 
context.) 

We  might  pursue  this  subject  indefinitely.  It  is 
enough  for  our  present  purpose  to  affirm  that  many  of 
the  errors  in  natural  philosophy,  physiology,  astron- 
omy, and  other  sciences  that  prevailed  in  that  day  are 
implied  or  incorporated  in  the  Gospels,  with  many 
prevailing  sujierstitions,  and  that  there  are  more  mis- 
takes and  a  greater  number  of  contradictions  in  the 
four  Gospels  than  in  any  other  writings  of  the  same 
length  now  extant  in  any  language. 

There  is  no  one  subject  upon  which  so  many  books 
have  been  written  as  what  are  called  "  harmonies  of  the 
Gospels."  There  are  now  more  than  one  hundred  such 
books  extant,  besides  thousands  that  have  gone  out  of 
print.  Long  ago  as  the  seventeenth  century  Thomas 
Munn  of  London  published  such  a  book,  on  the  title- 
page  of  which  he  states  that  he  has  reconciled  three 
thousand  contradictions.  What  does  all  this  imply? 
Has  it  ever  been  found  necessary  to  so  reconcile  the  writ- 
ings of  Plato,  Socrates,  Aristotle,  Newton,  or  Bacon  ? 
Could  not  God  make  himself  understood  ?  It  is  an 
acknowledged  fact  among  jurists  that  the  discrepancies 


348  SKELETON  KEYS. 

in  the  four  Gospels  would  destroy  the  credibility  of 
any  four  witnesses  in  any  intelligent  court  of  law. 

We  must  here  express  our  conviction  that  the  Gos- 
pels, which  profess  to  give  the  life  of  Jesus,  are  not 
original,  genuine  productions,  and  it  is  time  to  show 
how  they  came  into  existence  and  were  palmed  off  by 
ecclesiastics  as  the  productions  of  those  whose  names 
they  bear. 

About  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christianity  almost 
every  system  of  philosophy  and  religion  centred  at 
Alexandria  in  Egypt.  The  Essenes,  though  scattered 
throughout  all  the  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire,  had 
their  head-quarters  at  Alexandria,  where  existed  a 
flourishing  university.  To  this  centre  of  learning 
seekers  after  truth  from  all  countries  of  the  globe 
found  their  way,  and,  comparing  their  various  systems, 
the  result  was  the  evolution  of  the  Eclectic  philosophy, 
made  up  of  what  was  regarded  as  the  best  of  every 
known  faith. 

Palestine  and  Egypt  were  geographically  contiguous, 
and  the  commerce  between  them  was  general  and  con- 
stant through  Alexandria.  Here  the  various  sects  of 
Judaism  came  into  direct  contact  with  Greek  and  Ori- 
ental thought  and  philosophy,  with  which  they  had 
been  made  quite  familiar  during  their  captivity  in  Bab- 
ylon. Pythagorean,  Platonic,  and  even  Zoroastrian 
and  Buddhistic  speculations  were  rife — were  in  the 
very  air  of  Alexandria.  It  is  notorious  that  in  that 
city  Christian  theology  assumed  a  systematic  form. 
The  first  and  best  Christian  manuscripts  were  Alexan- 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.        349 

drian,  and  so  were  the  first  bishops ;  so  says  Prof.  Cal- 
vin E.  Stowe. 

.  It  is  impossible  for  any  party  to  escape  entirely  from 
the  influence  of  its  surroundings.  How  could  a  new 
sect  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  escape  the  influences 
that  dominated  the  very  atmosphere  of  Alexandria? 
Christianity,  so  called,  did  not  escape  this  influence,  but 
in  a  short  time  took  an  eclectic  form  made  up  of  the 
then  existing  systems  of  faith  and  philosophy,  so  that 
we  now  find  in  it  ingredients  taken  from  every  known 
system  of  religion  and  philosophy,  including  Judaism, 
Platonism,  Zoroastrianism,  and  Buddhism. 

Mosheim  says  this  Eclectic  philosophy,  which  "  chose 
the  good  and  rejected  the  evil  out  of  every  system  that 
had  been  propounded  to  mankind,"  was  taught  in  the 
university  of  Alexandria  when  Christianity  came  into 
existence.  A  very  interesting  question  arises  in  this 
connection,  which  few  have  paused  to  ponder — viz. 
What  became  of  the  sects  of  the  Essenes  and  Thera- 
peutists after  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era  ? 
That  they  suddenly  disappeared  as  sects  is  an  historical 
fact.  But  what  became  of  them  ?  Is  there  anything 
more  natural  than  to  assume  that  they  became  the 
pioneers  of  the  Christian  Church,  and,  in  fact,  that  it 
was  these  people  to  whom  the  name  "  Christian  "  was 
first  given  at  Antioch?  The  entire  New-Testament 
Scriptures  are  full  of  phrases  and  allusions  which  clearly 
show  the  Essenean  admixture,  of  which  many  examples 
might  be  quoted.  Even  Eusebius,  styled  the  "  Father 
of  ecclesiastical  history,"  without  whose  writings  little 


350  SKELETON  KEYS. 

or  nothing  is  known  of  the  early  Christian  Church, 
not  only  admits  the  close  resemblance  between  this  sect 
and  Christianity,  but  he  even  claims  that  they  were 
Christians. 

A  thorough  investigation  of  this  matter  drives  one 
to  the  conclusion  that  our  Catholic  Christianity  came 
from  Alexandria — virtually  from  the  Essenean  monks 
who  flourished  before  the  Augustan  age,  and  that  their 
writings  are  the  foundation  of  our  Gospels,  re-edited, 
changed,  and  interpolated  to  suit  times  and  occasions. 
Catholicism  is  the  undoubted  offshoot  of  Egyptian 
monkery,  as  Protestantism  is  an  offshoot  of  Catholi- 
cism, and  improperly  called  a  Meformation.  Paul 
probably  became  a  sort  of  Martin  Luther,  and  led  the 
great  schism  from  the  Essenean  Church,  and  it  was 
then  from  a  certain  time  called  Christian.  The  four 
Greek  Gospels  of  our  New  Testament  were  made  up 
at  Alexandria  from  Egyptian  asceticism,  and  consist 
largely  of  a  union  of  Neo-Platonism  with  Judaism, 
and  is  full  of  the  occult  and  mystical  so  common  in 
that  period.  They  were  not  written  by  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  as  can  be  proved,  and  he  who 
is  called  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  nothing  more  than  an 
Essenean  impersonation.  This  view  is  honestly  held 
by  the  writer,  and  did  space  permit  he  could  give 
many  pertinent  reasons  for  it.  Investigation  in  this 
direction  would  meet  a  rich  reward. 

Many  pious  persons  here  confront  us,  and  inquire 
reproachfully,  "  What  is  the  use  of  destroying  the  faith 
of  the  people  in  the  Christian  religion?"  This  question 


A  BEVEBENT  CBITIQUE  ON  JESUS.         351 

implies  what  is  not  true,  as  it  is  farthest  possible  from 
the  object  of  these  papers  to  ridicule  or  in  any  way  to 
bring  religion  into  disrepute.  It  is  not  only  good 
principle,  but  it  is  also  good  policy,  to  always  tell  the 
truth.  Why  should  we  say,  either  directly  or  by  im- 
plication, that  Christianity  is  a  supernatural  religion 
when  we  know  it  to  be  of  human  origin,  and  can  show 
just  how,  and  when,  and  where  it  grew  out  of  then 
existing  creeds  and  systems  of  philosophy? 

Is  religion  such  a  sham  that  it  can  best  be  subserved 
by  falsehood  and  imposture  ?  We  think  not.  And  if 
■we  should  adopt  the  Jesuistic  maxims,  that  "  the  end 
justifies  the  means  "  and  that  "  pious  intent  hallows 
deceit,"  it  is  simply  impossible  in  this  inquisitive  scien- 
tific age  to  keep  up  a  deception,  however  venerable  for 
age  and  sacred  from  association.  Knowledge  is  on  the 
increase,  and  the  people  will  not  for  ever  wear  bandages 
over  their  eyes,  and,  thus  hoodwinked,  swallow  without 
question  whatever  is  put  into  their  mouths  by  the  dis- 
pensers of  theologic  twaddle  and  priestly  pap.  Regarding 
Christianity  as  a  special  divine  revelation  recently  made, 
it  will  not  stand  scientific  and  historic  examination  ;  but 
regarding  it  as  of  human  origin,  an  evolution,  a  product 
of  that  age  of  pessimism  which  resulted  from  the  disap- 
pointment of  the  Jews  as  to  their  national  Messiah,  and 
the  disintegration  and  coming  decadence  and  downfall 
of  the  Roman  empire,  coupled  with  the  proclamation 
of  the  speedy  destruction  of  the  world  itself,  it  is  just 
what  might  have  been  expected — a  religion  of  pessim- 
ism, of  sorrow,  of  unworldliness,  of  evil  forebodings. 


352  SKELETON  KEYS. 

"  When  the  devil  got  sick,  the  devil  a  monk  would 
be."  When  Charles  IV.  of  Spain  was  discomfited  by 
the  misfortunes  of  war,  he  sought  solace  in  embroider- 
ing a  petticoat  for  the  Virgin  Mary.  Ranee  had  a 
domestic  tragedy,  and  he  founded  the  order  of  Trappist 
monks.  Loyola  would  never  have  founded  Jesuitism 
if  he  had  not  first  been  disfigured  and  crippled  in  a 
military  siege.  Dante  was  an  exile  when  he  wrote  his 
Info-no,  and  John  Calvin  was  a  dyspeptic  and  suffered 
from  rheumatism,  gout,  and  stone  when  he  wrote  his 
Institutes.  The  most  distinguished  devotees  to  the 
religion  of  self-reproach  have  always  been  sufferers 
from  headache  and  neuralgia,  as  "  crippled  foxes  decry 
the  vintage,"  and  grapes  are  always  sour  that  are  be- 
yond reach. 

The  germs  of  Christianity  grew  out  of  the  decaying 
carcasses  of  the  Jewish  commonwealth  and  the  Roman 
empire,  and  as  the  worship  of  sorrow  and  unnaturalness 
it  is  not  promotive  of  the  highest  virtue  and  the  best  in- 
terests of  human  society.  It  is  only  when  the  distinct- 
ive asceticism  is  eliminated  and  its  extreme  pessimism 
is  destroyed  by  a  rational  optimism  that  it  becomes  a 
real  blessing  to  humanity. 

Every  religion  reflects  the  characteristics  of  the  place 
and  time  of  its  birth,  and  the  gloomy  and  melancholic 
temperaments  of  the  dwellers  by  the  Jordan,  the  Nile, 
and  the  Euphrates  thoroughly  permeated  and  impreg- 
nated the  sects  of  those  countries. 

Regarding  Christianity  as  of  human  origin,  we  are 
at  liberty  to  cast  aside  its  lugubrious  spirit,  its  imprac- 


A  REVERENT  CRITIQUE  ON  JESUS.        353 

ticable  unworldliness  and  unnaturalness,  and  with  high- 
er esteem,  and  a  more  genuine  heartfelt  appreiation, 
and  a  sincere  acceptance  and  approval  we  are  free  to 
adopt  and  glorify  its  general  humane  spirit  under  the 
divine  impulse  of  the  universal  Fatherhood  of  God. 

The  real  religious  basis  is  that  he  serves  God  best 
who  serves  man  best,  and  the  coming  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  concomitant  with  the  coming  of  the  kingdom 
of  man. 

The  claim  of  infallibility  is  always  suspicious,  and 
there  is  no  finality  in  religious  truth  and  progress ;  and 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  religion  of  the  nineteenth 
century  is  as  great  an  improvement  upon  the  religion 
of  the  first  as  our  civilization,  science,  commerce,  and 
the  mechanic  arts  are  superior.  Prof.  Max  Miiller,  of 
the  orthodox  University  of  Oxford,  well  says  :  "  The 
elements  and  roots  of  religion  were  there  as  far  back  as 
we  can  trace  the  history  of  man,  and  the  history  of 
religion,  like  the  history  of  language,  shows  us  through- 
out a  succession  of  new  combinations  of  the  same  radical 
elements."  In  no  system  of  religion  is  the  principle  of 
combination,  of  previously  existing  forms  of  creed  and 
conduct,  so  apparent  as  in  the  Christian  religion.  It  is 
the  best  because  it  is  the  latest  of  the  great  religions, 
and  contains  the  best  selections  and  combinations  of  all 
previously  existing  ones,  Jewish  and  pagan. 

Our  faith  in  the  sublime  moral  precepts  of  Christian- 
ity is  increased  and  strengthened  as  we  realize  that  they 
are  thousands  of  years  old,  that  they  are  the  accumulated 
products  of  the  ages — an  evolution  from  the  consum- 

23 


354  SKELETON  KEYS. 

mated  wisdom  of  all  previously  existing  religionists  of 
all  times  and  countries.  God's  real  revelations  to  man 
are  from  within,  and  they  would  not  beany  more  divine 
if  they  were  from  without.  Of  nothing  can  we  be  so 
sure  as  that  God  will  take  care  of  his  own  eternal  truth, 
and  cause  it  to  shine  forth  with  more  radiant  splendor 
as  knowledge  shall  increase  and  true  science  shall  learn 
to  read  more  intelligently  the  records  of  the  divine  cha- 
racter and  will  in  the  infallible  book  of  nature. 

Ecclesiastical  tomtits  may  twitter  and  flutter,  and 
theological  owls  may  look  solemn  and  wise  and  hoot 
out  their  gloomy  forebodings,  but  the  true  ark  of 
Nature's  covenant  is  safe. 

"  Ever  the  truth  comes  uppermost, 
And  ever  is  justice  done." 

The  only  safe  position,  because  it  is  the  only  true  one, 
is  that  there  is  a  God  in  the  universe,  and  that  it  is  the 
diviwe  order  to  make  known  his  will  by  slow  and  uni- 
form processes,  and  not  by  sudden  and  miraculous 
revelations. 

The  principle  of  evolution  is  just  as  true  in  its  appli- 
cation to  moral  and  spiritual  things  as  it  is  in  regard 
to  the  material  world,  and  another  Darwin  will  some 
day  arise  who  will  demonstrate  the  fact.  Indeed,  this 
field  is  "  ripe  for  the  harvest,"  as  several  new  sciences, 
not  dreamed  of  until  within  a  half  century  past,  are 
revealing  facts  and  establishing  principles  which  are 
sure  to  consign  the  old  supernaturalism  to  regions  of 
superstition  and  priestcraft. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

A  FEW  FRAGMENTS. 

"Grather  up  the  fragments  that  remain,  that  nothing  be  lost." — 
JoHK  6  :  12. 

GNOSTICISM. 

Since  preparing  Chapter  XI.,  on  The  Ideal  Christ, 
and  quoting  freely  from  Mr.  Gerald  Massey  regarding 
the  Gnostics,  some  doubts  have  been  suggested  as  to 
the  soundness  of  his  views.  We  have  therefore  care- 
fully reviewed  this  matter,  and  can  find  no  reason  to 
abate  one  tittle  from  the  conclusions  presented  by  this 
painstaking  and  able  writer. 

The  word  gnosis,  meaning  knowledge,  does  not  apply 
exclusively  to  a  party  or  sect.  The  Gnostics  were  not 
distinguished  from  Christians  at  first  by  sectarian  lines. 
The  Epistles  of  Paul,  both  genuine  and  spurious,  rec- 
ognize the  gnosis,  and  there  were  Gnostic  sects,  as  well 
as  individual  Gnostics,  both  before  and  after  the  Chris- 
tian era.  The  gnosis  consisted  in  knowing,  and  mainly 
in  not  accepting  as  historical  and  iiteral  what  was  really 
only  allegorical.  The  chief  Gnostic  sects  held  as  secret 
their  essential  doctrines,  and  at  the  same  time  they  had  an 
exoteric  statement  which  they  gave  to  the  common  peo- 
ple.    Even  Paul,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  first-class 

355 


356  SKELETON  KEYS. 

Gnostic,  preached  one  gospel  publicly  to  the  Gentiles, 
and  another  which  he  gave  "privately  to  them  that 
were  of  reputation  "  (Gral.  2  :  2).  His  teachings  were 
highly  Cabalistic,  and  he  seems  to  have  delighted  in 
"  mysteries."  He  had  no  conference  with  any  of  the 
other  apostles  as  to  what  he  should  teach,  but  went  to 
Arabia,  where  he  doubtless  met  the  Essenean  brother- 
hood, and  probably  learned  from  them  instead  of  the 
Judean  teachers.  The  Essenes  were  famous  for  the 
cultivation  of  sacred  literature,  and  had  \h&LV  personified 
Christ,  as  we  have  reason  to  believe.  Mr.  C.  Staniland 
Wake  thinks,  with  good  reason,  that  the  Essenes  were 
Mithrasts,  and  that  they  worshipped  the  sun,  and 
Mithras,  the  Persian  savior,  was  a  personifi/iation  of 
the  sun.  The  Essenes,  according  to  Josephus,  treated 
the  sun  with  great  veneration,  and  offered  certain  pray- 
ers early  in  the  morning,  as  if  they  made  supplication 
for  its  rising.  The  Essenes  and  Mithrasts  were  Gnos- 
tics in  that  they  held  to  a  personified  savior,  and  not  a 
literal  man  of  flesh  and  blood.  The  symbolism  of  the 
universe  afforded  models  for  the  secrets  of  their  relig- 
ion, and  their  rites  were  introduced  into  every  part  of 
the  Roman  empire — of  course  including  Palestine — 
and  for  nearly  four  centuries  the  Mithraic  religion 
wellnigh  overshadowed  Christianity.  Much  that  was 
written  of  Jesus  indicates  the  characteristics  of  the 
secret  initiations.  It  may  appear  strange  to  the  super- 
ficially informed  when  we  affirm,  as  heretofore,  that 
many  of  those  matters  which  Paul  set  forth  with  such 
seeming  literal ness  were  in  fact  mystic  and  arcane,  the 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  357 

transcript  of  older  doctrines,  and  were  made  up  through- 
out of  astrological  symbolism. 

The  systems  of  many  ancient  peoples  centuries  be- 
fore Christianity  contain  doctrines  and  dramatic  stories 
closely  analogous  to  the  gospel  story  of  Jesus.  The 
Neo-Platonists  held  that  these  occult  rites  were  merely 
a  form  of  representing  philosophic  thought  as  if  in 
scenes  of  daily  life.  While  Paul  refers  to  certain  mat- 
ters as  apparently  historical,  he  never  overlooks  their 
symbolic  import.  The  interpolators  of  his  writings 
misrepresented  his  real  views,  as  is  evinced  by  in- 
ternal evidence  in  the  writings  themselves. 

The  fourth  Gospel,  falsely  credited  to  John,  was 
written  for  the  evident  purpose  of  opposing  the  Gnos- 
tic doctrine  of  Jesus  not  made  flesh  by  prasenting  the 
Neo-Platonic  dogma  of  "the  Word  made  flesh."  In 
many  places  throughout  the  New  Testament  there  is 
an  implication  that  there  were  those  who  denied  that 
Jesus  came  in  the  flesh :  "  And  eveiy  spirit  that  con- 
fesseth  not  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  not 
of  God "  (1  John  1  :  3).  In  2  John,  7th  verse,  it  is 
said  :  "  For  many  deceivers  are  entered  into  the  world, 
who  confess  not  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh. 
This  is  a  deceiver  and  an  antichrist."  How  does  this 
comport  with  the  assumption  that  the  existence  of  the 
human  Jesus  was  never  doubted  in  the  apostolic  age  ? 
The  ignorant  and  disingenuous  ecclesiastics  who  wrote  on 
Gnosticism  in  early  ages  always  observed  one  rule,  and 
that  was  to  represent  it  as  a  mere  offshoot  and  corrup- 
tion of  Christianity,  invented  because  of  disappointed 


358  SKELETON  KEYS. 

ambition  by  apostates  from  the  religion  established  by 
the  apostles.  The  K-ev.  Mr.  King,  in  his  Gnostics,  and 
their  Remains,  affirms  that  such  representations  "are 
entirely  false."  The  truth  is,  that  Gnosticism  did  not 
purport  to  be  a  Christian  system,  except  by  a  kind  of 
syncretism  to  reconcile  different  faiths.  The  Neo- 
Platonists  attempted  this,  and  Gnostics  did  the  same 
on  an  analogous  plan.  The  historical  existence  of  Jesus 
was  little  else  than  a  concession  made  to  the  unreason- 
ing multitude,  while  the  esoteric  doctrine  was  so  much 
older  as  to  make  such  an  existence  of  no  possible  ac- 
count except  as  a  piece  of  folk-lore  to  hang  illustrations 
of  doctrines  upon.  This  is  the  central  idea  of  every 
branch  of  Gnosticism.  The  forms  set  forth  by  differ- 
ent expositors  are  secondary  and  incidental,  liable 
to  mislead  those  who  attempt  to  place  them  in  the 
front  and  draw  deductions  from  them ;  and  hence 
Saturninus  taught  that  all  that  was  considered  physi- 
cal in  Jesus  was  only  a  phantasy,  and  that  what 
was  from  God  was  spiritual  only,  and  not  at  all  cor- 
poreal. As  for  the  writings  of  Tatian,  they  are  "  lost " 
— that  is,  destroyed — and  we  are  under  no  obligations 
to  accept  what  his  enemies  have  said  of  them.  The 
period  was  one  in  which  calumny,  slander,  and  forgery 
were  the  rule,  as  well  as  the  main  dependence  for  re- 
futing an  adversary.  We  know  nothing  of  Cerinthus 
except  through  Epiphanius,  whose  reputation  for  truth 
and  veracity  is  so  bad  that  he  would  make  falsehood 
appear  like  truth  by  his  manner  of  telling  it.  Our 
evidence    respecting    Cerinthus    comes    chiefly    from 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  359 

Epiphanius,  who  once  professed  to  be  a  Gnostic  (Ma- 
cosian),  and  afterward  turned  Catholic,  and,  Judas-like, 
betrayed  some  scores  of  his  former  associates,  including 
seventy  women,  to  the  persecuting  civil  authorities. 

The  Ophites  were  certainly  mystics,  and  read  every- 
thing concerning  Jesus  as  a  sacred  allegory.  Many 
think  that  Christos  was  with  them  Chrestos,  the  good, 
the  incarnation  and  associate  of  Sophia,  "  the  wisdom 
from  on  high."  The  "  wisdom  religion  "  was  exten- 
sively symbolized.  Pythagoras  named  his  esoteric 
doctrine  the  gnosis  or  "  knowledge,"  and  Plato  used  a 
similar  expression  to  indicate  the  "  interior  knowledge." 
Marcion  was  evidently  Persian  and  used  Mithraic 
symbolism.  The  ceremonials  of  Mithraism  (red-cap 
Christians)  and  astral  rites  were  adopted  by  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  besides  many  other  rites  of  paganism. 
The  Jewish  Cabala  and  the  Gnostics  had  much  in 
common.  The  Sethites  were  of  Jewish  origin,  and 
they  held  that  Seth  was  the  son  of  Sophia,  who  had 
filled  him  with  the  divine  gnosis,  and  that  his  de- 
scendants were  a  spiritual  race. 

The  Mandaites  were  Gnostics,  as  their  name  indi- 
cates, and  they  found  in  the  system  the  older  type  of 
doctrine  which  obtained  in  Mesopotamia  and  in  the 
old  and  elaborate  Babylonian  religion.  This  is  seen 
from  the  fact  that  the  names  of  the  old  pantheon  were 
adopted. 

The  variety  of  legends  regarding  Jesus  show  that 
he  was  not  an  historical  character.  Deriving  the  bulk 
of  their  theosophy  from  beyond  the  Euphrates,  and 


360  SKELETON  KEYS. 

even  much  from  beyond  the  Indus,  the  early  ecclesias- 
tics changed  names,  but  retained  their  original  ideas. 
Nearly  all  Christian  festivals  are  the  equivalents  of 
pagan  observances,  as  is  well  known.  Prof.  F.  W. 
Newman  denounces  the  assertions  of  Tischendorf  and 
Canon  Westcott  concerning  the  Gnostics  as  "  unwor- 
thy of  scholars,  and  only  calculated  to  mislead  readers, 
who  most  generally  are  ignorant  of  the  actual  facts  in 
in  the  case."  "  The  uncritical  and  inaccurate  charac- 
ter of  the  Fathers  rendered  them  peculiarly  liable  to 
be  misled  by  forgone  conclusions." 

Oriental  Christianity  and  Parseeism  furnish  a  strik- 
ing example  of  religious  syncretism.  In  the  Gnostic 
basis  itself  it  is  not  difficult  to  recognize  the  general 
features  of  the  religion  of  ancient  Babylon,  and  thus 
we  are  brought  nearer  to  a  solution  of  the  problem  as 
to  the  real  origin  of  Gnosticism  in  general. 

Dr.  John  Tulloch,  principal  of  St.  Andrew's  Uni- 
versity and  the  writer  of  the  article  on  the  Gnostics 
in  the  Encydopcedia  Britannica  (ninth  edition),  truly 
says  :  "  The  sources  of  Gnosticism  are  to  be  found  in 
diverse  forms  of  religion  and  speculative  culture  ante- 
cedent to  Christianity,  especially  in  the  theology  of  the 
Alexandrian  Jews  as  represented  in  the  writings  of 
Philo,  and  again  in  the  influences  flowing  from  the  old 
Persian  or  Zarathustrian  religion  and  the  Buddhistic 
faiths  of  the  East."  He  also  says  it  is  "  the  fact  that 
the  spirit  of  Gnosticism  and  the  language  which  it 
afterward  developed  were  in  the  air  of  the  apostolic 
age,  and  that  the  last  thing  to  seek  in  the  early  Fathers 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  361 

is  either  accuracy  of  chronology  or  a  clear  sequence  of 
thought." 

In  Appletons'  New  American  Cyclopedia,  under 
the  title  "  Gnostics,"  it  is  said  :  "  The  Gnostics  num- 
bered two  classes — the  select  few  who  were  admitted  to 
the  divine  secrets,  and  the  large  class  of  common  be- 
lievers who  were  not  able  to  rise  above  the  physical 
condition."  The  point  is  that  the  Gnostics  had  a  secret 
doctrine  which  their  adversaries  did  not  know.  The 
recognition  of  Jesus  as  an  actual  person  was  only  ap- 
parent, and  hence  different  people  differed  in  that 
respect.  The  doctrine  came  from  the  far  East,  and 
teachers  only  sought  to  harmonize  it  with  the  new 
worship,  as  they  also  did  with  Mithraism.  The  real 
Gnostics  were  the  spiritual  men  of  the  times,  and  mere 
externalists  could  not  understand  them.  It  would  be 
amusing  if  it  were  not  so  serious  to  see  men  often 
affecting  great  learning,  themselves  not  professing 
orthodoxy,  yet  vehement  for  what  can  only  be  called 
Roman  ecclesiasticism.  *'  The  letter  killeth,"  and 
"  the  wise  shall  understand." 

Many  writers  on  Gnosticism  seem  to  know  no  more 
than  the  cock  on  the  dunghill  knows  of  the  jewels  that 
lie  before  him.  The  fact  is,  that  the  writings  of  the 
so-called  Fathers,  and  of  the  New  Testament  itself, 
have  come  down  to  us  percolated  through  Roman 
sacerdotalism,  and  must  be  taken  with  many  grains 
of  allowance.  There  were  many  men  named  Jesus  at 
the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  but  that  a 
J&sus   was   crucified  and   rose  from   the   dead  is  not 


362  SKELETON  KEYS. 

supported  by  a  particle  of  evidence.  The  anonymous 
author  of  the  great  English  book,  Supernatural  Relig- 
ion, has  shown  how  utterly  valueless  the  Gospels  are  as 
sources  of  evidence ;  and  where  else  shall  we  look  for 
an  historical  Jesus  ?  We  can  have  no  faith  in  historical 
"  phantoms,"  "  aions,"  and  "  illusions."  Neither  pagan 
nor  Jewish  contemporaneous  history  gives  any  counte- 
nance to  the  orthodox  claim  of  a  personal,  crucified, 
and  risen  Jesus. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHRIST  STORY. 

The  Gospels  were  doubtless  compiled  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  from 
the  mythological  and  superstitious  lore  that  was  then 
circulating  in  great  abundance ;  and  Christ  himself  is 
only  a  mythological  personage  who,  if  such  a  person 
ever  had  any  existence  at  all,  existed  many  centuries  be- 
fore the  Christian  era,  and  was  very  diiferent  from  the 
Christ  of  the  Gospels,  being  originally  ^sculapius  or 
some  other  character  of  the  like  fame,  and  serving  only 
as  the  basis  of  the  Christian  fable.  It  is  certain  that 
the  primitive  teachers  of  Christianity  converted  to  their 
own  purposes  the  writings  of  ancient  poets  and  philos- 
ophers, mixing  together  the  Oriental  Gnosticism  and 
Greek  philosophy,  and  palming  them  on  the  world  in 
a  new  form  as  things  especially  revealed  to  themselves. 

It  may  further  be  remarked  that  at  a  most  early 
period  of  the  Christian  era  there  appears  to  have  been 
great  doubts  as  to  the  real  existence  of  Christ.  The 
Manichees,  as  Augustine   informs  us,  denied  that  he 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  363 

was  a  man,  while  others  maintained  that  he  was  a 
man,  but  denied  that  he  was  a  God  (August  Serm. 
XXX vii.  c.  12).  There  is,  therefore,  considerable  force 
in  the  expressions  of  a  modern  writer  that  the  being 
of  no  other  individual  mentioned  in  history  ever  labor- 
ed under  such  a  deficiency  of  evidence  as  to  its  reality, 
or  ever  was  overset  by  a  thousandth  part  of  the  weight 
of  positive  proof  that  it  was  a  creation  of  imagination 
only,  as  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  His  existence  as  a  man 
has,  from  the  earliest  day  on  which  it  can  be  shown  to 
have  been  asserted,  been  earnestly  and  strenuously  de- 
nied ;  and  that  not  by  the  enemies  of  the  Christian 
faith,  but  by  the  most  intelligent,  most  learned,  and 
most  sincere  of  the  Christian  name  who  have  left  to  the 
world  proofs  of  their  intelligence  and  learning  in  their 
writings  and  of  their  sincerity  in  their  sufferings.  The 
existence  of  no  individual  of  the  human  race  that  was 
real  and  positive  was  ever  by  a  like  conflict  of  jarring 
evidence  rendered  equivocal  and  uncertain.  Nothing, 
however,  is  more  common  than  for  some  persons  to  as- 
sume an  air  of  contempt,  and  to  cry  out  that  those  who 
deny  that  such  a  person  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ever  ex- 
isted are  utterly  unworthy  of  being  answered.  It  is, 
truly,  very  convenient  for  them  thus  to  shelter  them- 
selves by  assuming  his  existence  as  incontrovertible, 
instead  of  fairly  meeting  historical  facts  which,  to  say 
the  least,  render  his  existence  very  probleraetical.  It 
is  to  no  purpose  to  urge  that  it  might  as  well  be  denied 
that  no  such  a  person  as  Alexander  the  Great  or  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte  ever  existed  as  to  set  at  defiance  the 


364  SKELETON  KEYS. 

evidence  of  the  existence  of  Jesus.  For  the  existence 
of  neither  Alexander  nor  Napoleon  was  miraculous, 
and  there  never  was  on  earth  one  other  real  personage 
whose  existence,  as  a  real  personage,  was  denied  and 
disclaimed  even  as  soon  as  ever  it  was  asserted,  as  was 
the  case  with  refspect  to  the  assumed  personality  of 
Christ.  But  the  only  common  character  that  runs 
through  the  whole  body  of  the  evidence  of  heretics  is, 
that  they,  one  and  all,  from  first  to  last,  deny  the  ex- 
istence of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  man,  and,  professing  their 
faith  in  him  as  a  God  and  Saviour,  yet  uniformly  and 
consistently  hold  the  whole  story  of  his  life  and  actions 
to  be  allegorical.  The  very  earliest  Christian  writings 
that  have  come  down  to  us  are  of  a  controversial  cha- 
racter and  written  in  attempted  refutation  of  heresies. 
These  heresies  must  therefore  have  been  of  so  much 
earlier  date  and  prior  prevalence ;  they  could  not  have 
been  considered  of  sufficient  consequence  to  have  called 
(as  they  seem  to  have  done)  for  the  entire  devotion  and 
enthusiastic  zeal  of  the  orthodox  party  to  extirpate  or 
keep  them  under^  if  they  had  not  acquired  deep  root 
and  become  of  serious  notoriety — an  inference  which 
leads  directly  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  of  an- 
terior origination  to  any  date  that  has  hitherto  been 
ascribed  to  the  Gospel  history. 

In  accordance  with  the  notion  that  Christ  was  a 
phantom,  the  Avriter  of  the  Commentaries  which  are 
attributed  to  Clement  of  Alexandria,  apparently  quoting 
from  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus,  tells  us  that  the  apostle 
John  attempted  to  touch  the  body  of  Christ,  but  in  so 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  ^66 

doing  found  no  hardness  of  flesh  and  met  with  no  re- 
sistance from  it,  although  he  thrust  his  hand  into  the 
inner  part  of  it.  A  similar  idea  is  conveyed  by  Luke 
where  he  says  that  Christ  vanished  out  of  the  sight  of 
his  disciples,  but  yet  shortly  after  stood  in  the  midst 
of  them — a  notion  consistent  only  with  that  of  an  ap- 
parition (Luke  24  :  31,  36).  Similar  remarks  may  be 
made  on  the  words  of  Christ  to  Thomas  and  Mary ; 
to  the  latter  ^he  says,  "  Touch  me  not,  for  I  have  not 
yet  ascended  to  my  Father ;"  that  is,  I  am  not  to  be 
felt ;  and  to  the  former  he  says,  "  Reach  hither  thy 
hand,  and  thrust  it  into  my  side"  (John  20  :  17,  27). 
Both  these  expressions,  contradictory  as  they  are  with 
regard  to  Jesus,  still  show  that  the  writer  knew  some- 
thing of  the  notion  entertained  that  Christ  was  a  phan- 
tom. Luke  (24  :  37,  39)  also  has  words  proving  the 
same  point,  where  he  says  that  the  disciples,  when  they 
saw  Christ  after  his  resurrection,  thought  they  had 
seen  a  spirit  and  that  he  told  them  to  handle  him. 
Marcion  of  Pontus,  who  flourished  about  A.  D.  127, 
believed  Christ  not  to  have  been  born  of  a  virgin  and 
to  have  grown  up  gradually,  but  that  he  took  the  form 
of  a  man  and  appeared  as  a  man  without  being  born, 
and  at  once  showed  himself  in  Galilee  in  full  maturity. 
Manes  also,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Socrates  and 
others,  "denied  that  Christ  was  ever  really  born  or 
had  real  human  flesh,  but  asserted  that  he  was  a  mere 
phantom."  (See  Lardner's  Credibility,  vol.  ii.  p.  141.) 
For  men  who  entertained  this  notion  of  "  the  person 
of  Christ,"  his  sufferings,  death,  and  resurrection  were 


366  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  course  a  delusion — were  only  in  appearance.  Thus, 
according  to  Father  Apelles,  who  wrote  about  A.  D. 
160,  Christ  was  not  bom,  nor  was  his  body  like  ours, 
but  consisted  of  aerial  and  ethereal  particles.  Very 
probably,  Apelles  did  not  think  it  unlikely  that  a 
body  composed  of  such  subtile  matter  as  this  should 
rise  from  the  grave  and  be  capable  of  passing  not  only 
through  the  smallest  aperture,  but  even  through  solid 
matter.  Barnabas,  the  companion  of  Paul,  in  his  Gos- 
pel had  another  way  of  disposing  of  the  question  of  the 
resurrection — namely,  by  denying  that  Christ  was  cru- 
cified at  all,  but  was  taken  up  into  the  third  heaven  by 
four  angels ;  that  it  was  Judas  Iscariot  who  was  cru- 
cified in  his  stead ;  and  that  Christ  will  not  die  till  the 
very  end  of  the  world  (Toland's  Nazarenus,  Letter  i. 
chap.  V.  p.  17.)  The  Basilidians,  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  second  century,  disposed  in  a  sim- 
ilar manner  of  the  miracle  of  the  resurrection  by 
asserting  that  it  was  not  Christ,  but  Simon  of  Cyrene, 
who  was  crucified  instead  of  Jesus. 

Such  are  some  of  the  various  opinions  of  the  origin 
of  the  story  of  Christ's  resurrection.  They  are  placed 
before  the  reader  that  he  may  have  a  choice  of  theories. 
After  matured  reflection,  however,  he  will,  most  prob- 
ably, come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  tale  originated 
in  the  same  manner  as  "  The  Gospel  of  the  Birth  of 
Mary,"  "  The  Gospels  of  the  Infancy  of  Clirist,"  "  The 
Gospel  of  Nicodemus,"  the  epistolary  correspondence 
of  Christ  and  Abgarus,  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  Igna- 
tius, together  with  hundreds  of  other  similar  produc- 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  367 

tions  of  the  ages  when  facts  were  not  so  much  appre- 
ciated as  fables  in  the  form  of  books.  If  he  arrive  at 
this  conchision,  he  will  see  no  reason  to  believe  that 
such  a  personage  as  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels  was  ever 
crucified,  much  less  raised  from  the  dead. 

ANCIENT  ENIGMAS. 

It  is  amusing  to  observe  how,  in  ancient  times,  the 
dark,  enigmatical,  and  allegorical  style  was  practised, 
particularly  in  the  East,  by  all  public  teachers,  both 
Jews  and  Gentiles.  By  this  means  they  explained 
away  the  fabulous  tales  current  regarding  their  gods, 
and  discoursed  on  every  branch  of  knowledge  known 
to  them.  They  deemed  religion  a  mystery  not  to  be 
publicly  explained,  and  always  delivered  its  dogmas 
clothed  in  dark  allegories  {Cie.  de  Nat.  Deor.,  lib.  ii. 
iii. ;  Spencer  de  Legibus  Heb.,  p.  182 ;  Clerici  Hist. 
Eccles.,  p.  23).  The  Egyptians  and  Chaldeans  were 
noted  for  their  dark  sayings  {Simon  Hist.  crii.  des  Com- 
ment., p.  4).  Gale  {Opuscula  Mythologica)  gives  an 
account  of  several  ancient  books  expressly  written  as 
instructions  to  interpret  allegories.  The  Greek  poets. 
Homer  not  excepted,  are  by  their  scholiasts  regarded 
as  treating  of  their  gods  in  a  mystical  style.  The  Stoic 
philosophers  dressed  the  whole  heathen  theology  in 
allegorical  language  {Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor.,  lib.  ii.).  The 
Pythagorean  philosophy  was  taught  in  enigmatical  ex- 
pressions, the  meaning  of  which  was  studiously  con- 
cealed from  the  vulgar  mind,  and  revealed  even  to  the 
initiated  only  gradually  as  their  years  of  maturity  were 


368  SKELETON  KEYS.' 

thought  to  qualify  them  for  its  reception.  Plato  and 
his  followers  in  the  groves  of  Academia  practised  the 
same  mode  of  teaching  religion,  especially  theogony. 
The  writings  attributed  to  Paul  the  apostle,  as  has  been 
shown,  are  replete  with  mystical  and  enigmatical  expres- 
sions. This  he  confesses,  saying  that  he  spoke  "  the  wis- 
dom of  God  in  a  mystery,"  "  comparing  spiritual  things 
with  spiritual"  (1  Cor.  2  :  7,  13).  Accordingly,  he  re- 
gards the  history  of  Isaac  and  Ishmael  as  an  allegory 
(Gal.  4  :  22-25),  which  he  condescends  to  explain.  The 
primitive  Fathers  of  Christianity  pursued  the  same  mode 
of  communicating  instruction  and  of  defending  their  re- 
ligion against  the  pagans.  Justin  Martyr,  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  Irenseus,  Tertullian,  Origen,  all  of  them, 
were  very  expert  in  this  occult  system,  in  imitation  of  the 
heathen  philosophers,  by  whom  most  of  them  had  been 
educated.  Eusebius  [Hist.  Eccles.,  lib.  vi.  c.  19),  citing 
what  he  is  pleased  to  call  the  assertions  of  Porphyry, 
writes  that  Origen,  having  been  educated  in  Greek  lit- 
erature, intermingled  it  with  the  fictions  of  Christian- 
ity, that  he  dealt  in  the  works  of  Plato,  Numenius, 
Cranius,  Apollophanes,  Longinus  Moderatus,  Nico- 
machus,  Chseremon,  and  Cornutus,  and  that  he  derived 
from  these  pagan  authors  the  allegorical  mode  of  inter- 
pretation usual  in  the  mysteries  of  the  Greeks,  and 
applied  it  to  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  Thus,  Ori gen's 
mode  of  teaching  was  identical  with  that  of  the  pagans 
— a  mode  commended  even  by  the  learned  Dodwell 
(Letta^s  of  Advice,  etc.,  p.  208),  who  says  that  the  pagan 
mystical  arts  of  concealment  are  of  use  toward  under- 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  369 

standing  the  Scriptures.  The  Jewish  rabbis  also  deliv- 
ered their  doctrines  in  the  same  obscure  and  mystical 
manner,  as  their  Talmud,  Cabala,  Gemara,  and  other 
books,  besides  what  we  call  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  am- 
ply show.  The  religious  teachers  of  all  the  nations  of 
antiquity  thus  delighting  in  dark  sayings,  it  is  there- 
fore by  no  means  wonderful  that  the  writers  of  the 
Gospels,  whoever  they  were,  attribute  similar  enigmas 
to  Jesus.  This  accounts,  in  a  measure,  for  the  obscu- 
rity of  the  Gospels,  while,  however,  it  traces  their 
origin  to  a  pagan  source. 

GODS  OF  VIEGIN  BIETH. 

It  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  what  has  long  ago 
been  demonstrated  by  some  of  the  most  critical  writers, 
not  only  in  English,  but  also  in  other  languages — 
namely,  that  the  New  Testament  has  been  collected  by 
Eclectic  monks — particularly  Egyptian  monks  of  Jew- 
ish extraction  connected  with  the  Alexandrian  college 
— from  various  legendary  tales  and  other  documents 
then  afloat,  which  they  modified  to  answer  their  own 
purposes,  and  which  since  their  time  have  been  con- 
siderably altered  to  suit  the  requirements  of  different 
religious  communities. 

The  Christian  apologists  of  the  second  and  third 
centuries  evinced  no  lack  of  knowledge  on  this  point. 
Justin  Martyr,  as  already  cited,  in  addressing  a  Roman 
emperor,  says  that  the  Christians,  by  declaring  Jesus 
to  be  the  Son  of  God,  born  of  a  virgin,  said  no  more 
than  the  Romans  said  of  those  whom  they  styled  the 

24 


370  SKELETON  KEYS. 

sons  of  Jupiter,  such  as  Mercury,  Bacchus,  Hercules, 
Pollux,  and  Castor ;  and  as  to  Jesus,  he  repeats,  hav- 
ing been  born  of  a  virgin,  the  pagans  had  their  Per- 
seus, son  of  Jove  and  the  virgin  Danae,  to  balance  this 
feature.  Creusa,  daughter  of  Erectheus,  was  visited  by 
the  god  Apollo,  and  in  consequence  became  the  mother 
of  the  god  Janus.  A  Chinese  virgin  by  means  of  the 
rays  of  the  sun — regarded  as  a  deity — became  the 
mother  of  the  god  Fo,  who  acted  as  a  mediator  be- 
tween his  followers  and  another  superior  god.  The 
Hindoo  virgin  Rohini  in  like  miraculous  manner  gave 
birth  to  a  god,  one  of  the  Brahman  trinity.  Another 
Hindoo  virgin,  Devaci,  as  already  observed,  having 
had  an  intercourse  with  the  deity  Vasudeva,  became 
the  mother  of  an  incarnate  god  whose  name  was 
Chrishna ;  whose  birth  was  announced  by  the  appear- 
ance of  a  new  star ;  whose  life,  when  an  infant,  was 
sought  in  vain  by  the  reigning  tyrant  of  the  country ; 
whose  principal  exploits  were  killing  a  terrible  serpent, 
holding  a  mountain  on  the  tip  of  his  finger,  washing 
the  feet  of  the  Brahmans,  saving  multitudes  by  his 
miraculous  power,  raising  many  from  the  dead,  dying 
to  save  the  world  from  sin  and  darkness,  rising  from 
the  dead,  and  then  ascending  to  his  heavenly  seat  in 
Vaicontha  (Sir  Wm.  Jones's  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  i. 
pp.  259-273).  Somonocodom,  who,  according  to  the 
sacred  books  of  the  Talapoins  of  Siam,  was  destined 
to  save  the  world,  was  another  personage  who  had  a 
virgin  mother.  The  followers  of  Plato  about  two  hun- 
dred years  after  his  death,  but  more  than  a  century 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  371. 

before  the  Christian  era,  reported  that  he  had  been 
born  of  a  virgin. 

The  most  ancient  Alexandrian  chronicles,  which 
furnish  ample  proofs  of  the  universal  prevalence  of 
our  gospel  religion  in  Egypt  for  ages  before  the 
Christian  era,  testify  as  follows :  "  To  this  day 
Egypt  has  consecrated  the  pregnancy  of  a  virgin 
and  the  nativity  of  her  son,  whom  they  annually 
present  in  a  cradle  to  the  adoration  of  the  people; 
and  when  King  Ptolemy,  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  before  our  Christian  era,  demanded  of  the 
priests  the  significancy  of  this  religious  ceremony, 
they  told  him  it  was  a  mystery."  (See  Christian 
Mythology   Unveiled,  p.  94.) 

Indeed,  the  fabulous  lore  of  ancient  times  is  teeming 
with  the  amours  of  gods  with  virgins  and  the  results 
thereof.  Some  writers  have  intimated  that  such  births 
were  the  consequences  of  the  artful  intrigues  of  the 
pagan  priests  with  holy  virgins ;  but  Dupuis,  Albert, 
Alphonso,  Boulanger,  and  others  have  clearly  shown 
"  that  these  and  similar  tales,  which  are  revolting 
to  common  sense  if  taken  literally,  were  originally, 
in  Oriental  learning,  astronomical  and  other  alle- 
gories, conveying  the  most  sublime  truths  then  known 
touching  the  revolutions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  and 
other  physical  and  moral  facts,  while  their  meaning 
in  after  ages  was  gradually  perverted  to  answer  other 
ends." 


372  SKELETON  KEYS. 

THE  EPISTLES  SILENT  CONCERNING   THE  WORDS 
AND  WORKS  OF  JESUS. 

It  is  a  most  remarkable  fact  that  in  none  of  the 
Epistles  is  there  any  mention  made  of  the  various 
wonderful  things  narrated  in  the  Gospels  as  having 
been  said  and  done  by  Christ.  Indeed,  there  is  scarce- 
ly an  allusion  made  in  them  to  those  astounding  details 
with  which  every  page  of  the  Gospels  is  replete.  No 
mention  is  made  in  them  of  what  the  Gospels  state  that 
Christ  declared  regarding  the  day  of  judgment — nothing 
about  Christ's  preternatural  birth,  his  baptism,  his 
temptation  by  Satan,  his  denunciations  of  the  different 
existing  sects,  his  precepts,  his  parables,  his  intimate 
acquaintance  with  publicans,  with  Magdalene,  with 
Mary  and  other  women.  Not  one  of  his  miracles  is 
detailed,  and  nothing  is  said  of  the  marvellous  circum- 
stances which  attended  his  crucifixion  and  death,  such 
as  the  sun  darkening,  the  earth  quaking,  the  temple 
rending,  rocks  cleaving  asunder,  graves  opening,  the 
dead  rising  and  walking  the  streets  of  Jerusalem. 
These  are  matters  which,  one  would  imagine,  should 
occupy  a  very  prominent  position  in  all  the  Epistles — 
should  be  relied  upon  by  the  writers  respectively  as 
facts  with  which  to  attest  and  establish  the  truth  of 
their  doctrines,  and  which  would,  of  theTnsehes,  suffice 
to  convince  and  convert  the  most  incredulous  and  ob- 
durate mind.  In  the  Epistles  ascribed  to  Peter,  James, 
and  John,  who  are  said  to  have  been  eye-  and  ear- 
witnesses  of  what  Christ  did  and  said,  one  would  ex- 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  373 

pect,  certainly,  to  find  frequent  details  of  the  marvel- 
lous things  said  of  Jesus  in  the  Gospels.  But  Peter 
does  not  so  much  as  allude  to  the  keys  of  heaven  and 
hell  which  the  Gospels  say  were  given  him  to  keep, 
nor  even  to  the  fact  that  Jesus,  walking  on  the  sea, 
enabled  him  also  to  do  so  and  saved  him  from  drown- 
ing. Neither  does  he  tell  those  to  whom  he  writes  that 
Jesus  conferred  his  blessing  upon  him  when  he  pro- 
nounced him  "  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God  ;" 
nor  that  Jesus,  after  he  had  suspiciously  asked  him 
three  times  whether  he  loved  him,  and  had  as  often 
received  affirmative  answers,  charged  him  to  feed  his 
flock.  Of  course  we  cannot  expect  him  to  have  re- 
corded in  his  Epistles  that  Jesus  graced  him  with  the 
epithet  "Satan,"  or  that  he  denied  the  same  Jesus 
thrice.  If  it  was  the  son  of  Zebedee  who  wrote  "  the 
General  Epistle  of  James "  (about  the  authorship  of 
which  Christians  have  not  as  yet  agreed),  it  would  not 
seem  too  great  a  tribute  to  his  divine  Master  for  him  to 
refer  to  some  of  his  mighty  words  and  deeds  which  he 
must  have  witnessed.  Or  if  the  author  is  the  brother 
of  Jesus  (which  is  not  very  likely,  since  all  his  relatives 
except  his  mother  shunned  him),  he  could  deplore  the 
fact  that  he  and  his  brothers — Joses,  Simon,  and  Judas — 
did  not  believe  in  the  pretensions  of  their  divine  brother, 
Jesus.  But  the  very  name  of  Jesus  is  mentioned,  and 
that  casually,  only  thrice  in  the  whole  Epistle.  John, 
"  the  beloved  disciple,"  could  in  one  of  his  Epistles,  or 
at  least  in  that  which  it  is  agreed  he  wrote — to  the 
confirmation  of  the  genuineness  of  Matthew,  Mark, 


374  SKELETON  KEYS. 

and  Luke's  Gospels — have  adverted  to  that  curious 
incident  of  his  mother  asking  Jesus  to  allow  hini  and 
his  brother  James  to  sit  on  eacli  side  of  him  in  his 
kingdom ;  or  could,  with  a  mixture  of  joy  and  sorrow, 
ruminate  on  the  pleasure  he  had  felt  in  accompanying 
Peter  to  prepare  the  last  Passover  which  they  had  eaten 
with  their  divine  Master,  and  bemoan  the  fatal  disaster 
which  shortly  after  overtook  his  Lord.  But  he  writes 
not  one  word  about  these  remarkable  events,  or  about 
anything  that  occurred  personally  between  him  and 
Jesus.  Indeed,  the  writers  of  the  Epistles  totally  ig- 
nore the  contents  of  the  Gospels.  How,  then,  is  this 
fact  to  be  accounted  for?  Did  the  writers  of  the 
Epistles — whoever  they  were — know  anything  at  all 
about  the  contents  of  the  present  Gospels?  Are  we 
not  entitled  to  infer  that  either  the  churches,  etc.  to 
which  these  Epistles  were  addressed  were  much  older 
than  the  date  of  the  Gospels,  and  even  than  the  time 
at  which  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels  was  born,  or  that, 
if  the  present  Gospels  then  existed,  the  authors  of  the 
Epistles  knew  nothing  of  them  ? 

CONCLUSION. 

We  have  seen  that,  so  limited  was  the  knowledge  of 
Jesus  of  futurity,  he  falsely  prophesied  the  end  of  the 
world,  the  time  of  his  own  resurrection,  the  perpetual 
praise  of  a  woman  who  poured  upon  him  a  box  of 
ointment,  and  the  signs  which  believers  in  Christianity 
would  manifest.  We  have  also  seen  that  a  vast  num- 
ber of  his  precepts  and  doctrines  were  obscure,  contra- 


A  FEW  FRAGMENTS.  375 

dictory,  bigoted,  absurd,  and  untrue,  and  that  much 
of  his  conduct  was  open  to  criticism.  We  have  further 
seen  that  he  was  deficient  in  knowledge  of  natural 
philosophy ;  that  he  borrowed  the  best  part  of  his  doc- 
trine from  heathen  mythology  ;  that  his  life,  his  teach- 
ing, and  his  practices  were  identical  with  those  of 
heathen  monks  who  had  preceded  hira ;  that,  like 
many  other  human  beings,  he  feared  death ;  that  nei- 
ther his  own  neighbors,  nor  kinsmen,  nor  even  his 
disciples,  believed  that  he  was,  either  in  nature  or 
power,  superior  to  other  mortals;  and  that  he  him- 
self avowed  that  the  purpose  for  which  he  had  been 
ushered  into  the  world  was  to  send  strife,  division, 
fire,  and  sword  on  earth,  and  to  make  "  brother  deliver 
up  brother  to  death,  and  the  father  the  child,  and  in- 
cite children  to  rise  up  against  their  parents  and  cause 
them  to  be  put  to  death  "  (Matt.  10  :  21). 

Such  has  been  the  result  of  our  inquiry.  But  let  it 
not  be  supposed  that  there  was  nothing  to  admire  in 
the  alleged  character  and  teachings  of  the  ideal  Jesus. 
There  are  many  exceedingly  tender  things  mingled 
with  the  arrogant  and  severe.  His  character,  made 
up  from  many  models,  could  not  be  otherwise  than 
inconsistent  and  contradictory.  It  is  a  perfect  mosaic^ 
but  such  has  been  the  reverence  for  Jesus,  in  view  of 
the  extraordinary  claims  made  for  him,  that  men  have 
closed  their  eyes  to  his  imperfections  and  faults,  while 
they  have  greatly  magnified  his  virtues.  We  have 
known  many  persons  in  our  day  who  as  far  excelled 
Jesus  in  every  noble  and  manly  quality  as  the  civ-^ 


376  SKELETON  KEYS. 

ilization  and  morality  of  the  nineteenth  century  are 
superior  to  those  of  the  first.  It  has  been  well  said 
that  Jesus,  whether  a  person  or  an  impersonation,  will 
continue  to  be  the  leader  just  so  long  as  he  leads;  but 
he  no  longer  leads.  It  is  found  (assuming  his  person- 
ality) that  he  taught  nothing  but  what  had  been  taught 
with  equal  distinctness  before  him,  and  that  he  taught 
much  not  suited  to  this  commercial  age  and  to  the 
wants  of  this  nineteenth  century.  While  many  per- 
sons profess  to  be  disciples  of  Jesus,  yet  nobody  even 
pretends  to  conform  their  lives  to  his  alleged  teachings. 
Properly  speaking,  there  is  not  now  a  real  Christian 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  as  no  one  attempts  to  prac- 
tise the  extreme  precepts  Christ  is  said  to  have  laid 
down  in  the  so-called  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  What 
is  called  Christianity  is  proved  and  admitted  to  be  an 
evolution  from  various  religions  which  were  before  it. 
The  good  in  every  religion  is  the  same,  and  men  will 
go  on  weeding  out  the  impure  and  imperfect,  the  fittest 
only  surviving.  Christianity  claims  to  be  an  infallible 
divine  revelation,  and  that  it  is  complete  in  itself,  and 
of  course  admits  of  no  progress.  This  is  the  difficulty 
between  the  old  orthodoxy  and  the  new  orthodoxy  of 
the  creeds.  The  Church  carries  no  flag  of  truce.  It 
says,  You  must  believe !  True  men  answer.  We  can- 
not believe  the  impossible  and  the  absurd.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  who  will  survive  in  this  struggle 
for  existence.  The  "  spirit  of  truth  "  is  coming,  and 
it  will  "teach  in  all  things." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

BLOOD-SALVATION. 

"  And  almost  all  things  are  by  the  law  purged  with  blood ;  and 
without  the  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remission." — Heb.  9  : 
22.  "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all 
sin."— 1  John  1:5. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  quote  even  one-tenth  of  the 
passages  from  the  New  Testament  in  which  salvation 
is  ascribed  to  the  blood  of  Jesus.  Indeed,  from  Gen- 
esis to  Revelation  sacrificial  blood  seems  to  be  the  one 
prominent  theme.  The  salvation  of  Christ  is  emphati- 
cally the  salvation  by  blood,  and  this  idea  runs  through 
the  whole  system  of  what  is  called  evangelical  theology. 
Jeremy  Taylor  wrote  about  "  lapping  with  the  tongue 
the  blood  from  the  Saviour's  open  wounds,"  suggesting 
the  well-known  habit  of  the  bloodthirsty  dog.  But 
Mr.  Taylor  was  outdone  by  the  late  Rev.  Bishop  Jesse 
T.  Peck,  when  he  frantically  exclaimed,  in  the  presence 
of  thousands  of  people  at  a  religious  mass-meeting, 
"  We  have  not  enough  blood  in  our  religion.  I  want 
to  wade  in  the  blood  of  Calvary  up  to  my  armpits,  and 
wallow  in  it,"  suggesting  the  well-known  habits  of  the 
filthy  sow.  But  the  Rev.  T.  D.  Talmage,  D.  D., 
capped  the  climax  when,  in  his  usual  rhapsodical 
style,  he  exclaimed  in  a  recent  sermon :  "  It  seems  to 

877 


378  SKELETON  KEYS. 

me  as  if  all  Heaven  were  trying  to  bid  in  your  soul. 
The  first  bid  it  makes  is  the  tears  of  Christ  at  the  tomb 
of  Lazarus ;  but  that  is  not  a  high-enough  price.  The 
next  bid  Heaven  makes  is  the  sweat  of  Gethsemane;  but 
it  is  too  cheap  a  price.  The  next  bid  Heaven  makes 
seems  to  be  the  whipped  back  of  Pilate's  Hall ;  but  it 
is  not  a  high-enough  price.  Can  it  be  possible  that 
Heaven  cannot  buy  you  in  ?  Heaven  tries  once  more. 
It  says : '  I  bid  this  time  for  that  man's  soul  the  torture  of 
Christ's  martyrdom,  the  blood  on  his  temple,  the  blood 
on  his  cheek,  the  blood  on  his  chin,  the  blood  on  his 
hand,  the  blood  on  his  side,  the  blood  on  his  knee,  the 
blood  on  his  foot — the  blood  in  drops,  the  blood  in 
rills,  the  blood  in  pools  coagulated  beneath  the  cross ; 
the  blood  that  wet  the  tips  of  the  soldier's  spear,  the 
blood  that  plashed  warm  in  the  faces  of  his  enemies.' 
Glory  to  God !  that  bid  wins  it !  The  highest  price 
that  was  ever  paid  for  anything  was  paid  for  your  soul. 
Nothing  could  buy  it  but  blood  !  The  estranged  prop- 
erty is  bought  back.  Take  it.  '  You  have  sold  your- 
selves for  naught ;  and  ye  shall  be  redeemed  without 
money.'  O  atoning  blood,  cleansing  blood,  life-giving 
blood,  sanctifying  blood,  glorifying  blood  of  Jesus ! 
"Why  not  burst  into  tears  at  the  thought  that  for  thee 
he  shed  it — for  thee  the  hard-hearted,  for  thee  the 
lost?" 

Henry  III.  of  England  was  presented  wdth  a  small 
portion  of  the  blood  of  Jesus,  said  to  have  been  shed 
upon  the  cross,  and  to  have  been  preserved  in  a  phial, 
duly  attested  by  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  and  other 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  379 

distinguished  functionaries  as  genuine.  It  was  carried 
in  triumph  through  the  streets  of  London  with  raptur- 
ous shoutings  by  a  large  procession,  from  St.  Paul's  to 
Westminster  Abbey,  and  the  historian  testifies  that  it 
made  all  England  radiant  with  glory.  Indeed,  there 
has  been  enough  of  the  so-called  genuine  blood  that 
was  shed  on  Calvary  given  to  the  faithful  to  float  the 
largest  ship  in  the  navy  of  Great  Britain.  A  sufficient 
quantity  of  the  real  cross  upon  which  Jesus  is  said  to 
have  been  crucified  has  been  preserved  to  erect  the 
largest  temple  the  world  ever  contained.  There  is  no 
end  to  the  superstition  on  this  subject,  all  going  to 
show  how  deep-seated  is  the  credulity  which  exists  in 
the  popular  belief  in  regard  to  this  matter. 

There  are  many  illustrations  which  might  be  given 
of  "  blood-evocation  "  among  ancient  pagans  who  re- 
garded blood  as  the  great  arcanum  of  nature. 

But  what  was  the  origin  of  the  idea  that  blood  is 
purifying,  cleansing,  purging?  There  is  nothing  in 
the  thing  itself  that  suggests  this  idea.  Take  a  basin- 
ful of  newly-drawn  blood  and  set  it  upon  the  table  be- 
fore you.  It  soon  coagulates,  and  emits  an  offensive 
odor,  so  that  you  are  forced  to  hurry  it  from  your 
presence.  It  is  the  very  opposite  of  cleansing.  If  you 
get  a  drop  upon  your  finger,  you  immediately  wash 
it  off.  Indeed,  some  persons  cannot  stand  the  sight  of 
blood,  and  shrink  from  its  touch  as  from  a  deadly 
poison.  There  must  be  some  reason  for  the  idea  that  in 
some  way  blood  is  suggestive  of  cleansing  or  purifying. 
Now,  we  go  to  nature  in  search  of  knowledge.     There  is 


380  SKELETON  KEYS. 

only  one  phenomenon  in  which  the  shedding  of  blood 
is  a  natural  process,  and  that  is  when  the  young  girl 
arrives  at  the  stage  oi  pubescence,  and  in  this  case,  and 
in  this  case  only,  does  it  suggest  the  idea  of  purijicatimi. 
Before  the  period  approaches  nothing  can  be  more  sug- 
gestive of  the  untidy  than  the  unpubescent  girl.  She 
is  generally  awkward,  slouchy,  and  unattractive.  But 
let  the  sanguineous  evidence  of  approaching  woman- 
hood appear,  and  how  changed  !  Her  complexion  be- 
comes then  most  beautiful  and  bewitching.  Her  eyes 
sparkle  with  a  fire  which  cannot  be  described.  Her 
once  ungraceful  form  becomes  lithe,  and  her  whole 
person  changes  in  such  a  manner  as  to  indicate  that 
some  great  thing  has  happened.  She  has  been  purified 
or  deansed.  She  is  a  new  creature.  Old  things  have 
passed  away.  Each  succeeding  month  she  has  a  sim- 
ilar experience  until  the  full  bloom  of  womanhood  has 
passed  away. 

Indeed,  we  find  among  the  primitive  customs  of 
ancient  Africans  a  special  observance  of  the  commence- 
ment of  the  catamenial  period.  Before  the  arrival  of 
the  time  of  periodicity  the  young  girl  is  of  very  little 
account,  and  is  not  numbered  as  a  member  of  the  tribe. 
It  is  not  considered  indecent  for  her  to  run  around  in 
a  state  of  nudity  until  she  is  fourteen  years  of  age  or 
until  the  evidence  of  pubescence  appears.  Stanley  says 
of  certain  African  girls  :  "  They  wait  with  impatience 
the  day  when  they  can  be  married  and  have  a  cloth  to 
fold  around  their  bodies."  There  was  in  use  among 
certain  ancient  people,  now  worn  by  Catholic  priests, 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  381 

an  apron  known  as  the  peplum,  which  was  worn  after 
puberty. 

The  tribal  mark  and  totemic  name  were  conferred  in 
the  baptism  of  blood.  A  covenant  was  entered  into 
which  was  written  with  menstruous  blood,  because 
blood  was  the  announcer  of  the  female  period  of  pu- 
bescence. From  time  immemorial  the  Kaffirs  have 
preserved  the  custom  of  celebrating  the  first  appear- 
ance of  the  menstrual  flow.  All  the  young  girls  in  the 
neighborhood  meet  together  and  make  merry  on  the 
happy  occasion.  We  are  told  by  Irenseus  how  the 
feminine  Logos  was  represented  in  the  mysteries  of 
Marcus,  and  the  wine  was  supposed  to  be  miraculously 
turned  into  blood,  and  Charis,  who  was  superior  to  all 
things,  was  thought  to  infuse  her  own  blood  into  the 
cup.  The  cup  was  handed  to  the  women,  who  also 
consecrated  it  with  an  effiision  of  blood  proceeding 
from  themselv^es. 

It  would  seem  that  the  blood  of  Charis  preceded  the 
blood  of  Christ,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  there  would 
have  been  any  cleansing  by  the  blood  of  Christ  if  there 
had  been  no  purification  by  the  blood  of  Charis.  Thus 
Nature's  rubrics  are  written  in  red.  The  Eucharist  is 
derived  by  Clement  of  Alexandria  from  the  mixture  of 
the  water  and  the  Word,  and  he  identifies  the  Word 
with  the  blood  of  the  grape.  We  give  these  delicate 
hints  for  what  they  are  worth. 

We  have  a  deep  conviction  that  the  conception  of 
the  idea  of  purification  by  blood  had  at  first  some  con- 
nection with  the  natural  i&sue  of  blood  at  the  commence- 


382  SKELETON  KEYS. 

ment  of  periodicity  in  the  female.  In  the  Eleusinian 
Mysteries,  celebrated  by  pagans  centuries  before  the 
paschal  supper  of  the  Jews  or  the  Lord's  Supper 
of  Christians,  the  element  of  blood  was  very  con- 
spicuously set  forth,  and  Higgins  has  shown  in  his 
Anacalypsis  that  the  sacrifice  of  bread  and  wine  in  re- 
ligious ceremonies  was  common  among  many  ancient 
peoples,  the  wine  representing  the  blood. 

In  1885  a  very  remarkable  book  appeared,  entitled 
The  Blood  Covenant,  by  Rev.  H.  Clay  Trumbull,  D.  D., 
and  we  have  obtained  the  consent  of  this  author  (whom 
we  have  the  honor  to  recognize  as  an  old  and  very  dear 
personal  friend)  "  to  use  anything  we  please,  in  any 
way  we  please,  without  giving  any  credit."  For  this 
permission  we  are  truly  thankful,  though  we  only  avail 
ourself  of  a  few  of  the  facts  bearing  upon  the  point 
concerning  which  we  write. 

Our  author  says :  "  One  of  these  primitive  rites, 
which  is  deserving  of  more  attention  than  it  has  yet 
received,  as  throwing  light  on  many  important  phases 
of  Bible-teaching,  is  the  rite  of  blood-covenanting — a 
form  of  mutual  covenanting  by  which  two  persons  en- 
ter into  the  closest,  the  most  enduring,  and  the  most 
sacred  of  compacts  as  friends  and  brothers,  or  as  more 
than  brothers,  through  the  intercommingling  of  their 
blood  by  means  of  its  mutual  tasting  or  of  its  transfu- 
sion. This  rite  is  still  observed  in  the  unchanging 
East;  and  there  are  historic  traces  of  it  from  time 
immemorial  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  yet  it 
has   been    strangely    overlooked    by    biblical    critics 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  383 

and  biblical  commentators  generally  in  these  later 
centuries. 

"  Although  now  comparatively  rare,  in  view  of  its 
responsibilities  and  of  its  indissolubleness,  this  covenant 
is  sometimes  entered  into  by  confidential  partners  in 
business  or  by  fellow-travelers ;  again,  by  robbers  on 
the  road,  who  would  themselves  rest  fearlessly  on  its 
obligations,  and  who  could  be  rested  on  within  its  lim- 
its, however  untrustworthy  they  or  their  fellows  might 
be  to  any  other  compact.  Yet,  again,  it  is  the  chosen 
compact  of  loving  friends — of  those  who  are  drawn  to 
it  only  by  mutual  love  and  trust. 

"  There  are,  indeed,  various  evidences  that  the  tie 
of  blood-covenanting  is  reckoned  in  the  East  even  a 
closer  tie  than  that  of  natural  descent — ^that  a  '  friend ' 
by  this  tie  is  nearer  and  is  dearer,  /  sticketh  closer,* 
than  a  '  brother '  by  birth.  We  in  the  West  are  ac- 
customed to  say  that '  blood  is  thicker  than  water,'  but 
the  Arabs  have  the  idea  that  blood  is  thicker  than  a 
mother's  milk.  With  them,  any  two  children  nour- 
ished at  the  same  breast  are  called  '  milk-brothers '  or 
'  sucking  brothers ';  and  the  tie  between  such  is  very 
strong. 

"  Lucian,  the  bright  Greek  thinker,  writing  in  the 
middle  of  the  second  century  of  our  era,  is  explicit 
as  to  the  nature  and  method  of  this  covenant  as  then 
practised  in  the  East :  '  And  this  is  the  manner  of  it : 
Thereupon,  cutting  our  fingers,  all  simultaneously,  we 
let  the  blood  drop  into  a  vessel,  and,  having  dipped  the 
points  of  our  swords  into  it,  both  of  us  holding  them 


384  SKELETON  KEYS. 

together,  we  drink  it.  There  is  nothing  which  can 
loose  us  from  one  another  after  that.' 

"Yet,  a  little  while  earlier  than  Lucian,  Tacitus 
gives  record  of  this  rite  of  blood-brotherhood  as  prac- 
tised in  the  East.  He  makes  an  explanation  :  '  It  is 
the  custom  of  Oriental  kings,  as  often  as  they  come 
together  to  make  covenant,  to  join  right  hands,  to  tie 
the  thumbs  together,  and  to  tighten  them  with  a  knot. 
Then,  when  the  blood  is  thus  pressed  to  the  finger-tips, 
they  draw  blood  by  a  light  stroke  and  lick  it  in  turn. 
This  they  regard  as  a  divine  covenant,  made  sacred,  as 
it  were,  by  mutual  blood  or  blended  lives.' 

"  Sallustjthe  historian  of  Catiline's  conspiracy  against 
Rome,  says  :  '  There  were  those  who  said  at  that  time 
that  Catiline  at  this  conference,  when  he  inducted  them 
into  the  oath  of  partnership  in  crime,  carried  round  in 
goblets  human  blood  mixed  with  wine,  and  that,  after 
all  had  tasted  of  it  with  an  imprecatory  oath,  as  is 
men's  wont  in  solemn  rites,  he  opened  to  them  his 
plans.'  Florus,  a  later  Latin  historian,  describing 
this  conspiracy,  says :  ^  There  was  added  the  pledge 
of  the  league — human  blood — which  they  drank  as  it 
was  borne  round  to  them  in  goblets.'  And  yet  later 
TertuUian  suggests  that  it  was  their  own  blood,  min- 
gled with  wine,  of  which  the  fellow-conspirators  drank 
together.  '  Concerning  the  eating  of  blood  and  other 
such  tragic  dishes,'  he  says, '  you  read  that  blood  drawn 
from  the  arms  and  tasted  by  one  another  was  the  meth- 
od of  making  covenant  among  certain  nations.' 

"As. far  back  even  as  the  fifth  century  before  Christ 


BLOOD-SALVA  TION.  385 

we  fiud  an  explicit  description  of  this  Oriental  rite  of 
blood-covenanting.  '  Now,  the  Scythians/  says  Herod- 
otus, '  make  covenants  in  the  following  manner,  with 
whomsoever  they  make  them :  Having  poured  out 
wine  into  a  great  earthen  drinking-bowl,  they  mingle 
with  it  the  blood  of  those  making  covenant,  striking 
the  body  with  a  small  knife  or  cutting  it  slightly  with 
a  sword.  Thereafter  they  dip  into  the  bowl  sword, 
arrows,  axe,  and  javelin.  But  while  they  are  doing 
this  they  utter  many  invokings,  and  afterward  not  only 
those  who  make  the  covenant,  but  those  of  their  fol- 
lowers who  are  of  the  highest  rank,  drink  off  the  wine 
mingled  with  blood.' 

"  Again,  Herodotus  says  of  this  custom  in  his  day : 
'Now,  the  Arabians  reverence  in  a  very  high  degree 
pledgas  between  man  and  man.  They  make  these 
pledges  in  the  following  way :  When  they  wish  to 
make  pledges  to  one  another,  a  third  man,  standing  in 
the  midst  of  the  two,  cuts  with  a  sharp  stone  the  inside 
of  the  hands  along  the  thumbs  of  the  two  making  the 
pledges.  After  that,  plucking  some  woollen  from  the 
garments  of  each  of  the  two,  he  anoints  with  the  blood 
seven  stones  as  the  "  heap  of  witness  "  which  are  set  in 
the  midst.  While  he  is  doing  this  he  invokes  Dionysus 
and  Urania.  When  this  rite  is  completed,  he  that  has 
made  the  pledges  introduces  the  stranger  to  his  friends, 
or  the  fellow-citizen  to  his  fellows  if  the  rite  was  per- 
formed with  a  fellow-citizen.' 

"  Going  back,  now,  to  the  world's  most  ancient  rec- 
ords in  the  monuments  of  Egypt,  we  find  evidence  of 

25 


386  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  existence  of  the  covenant  of  blood  in  those  early 
days.  So  far  was  this  symbolic  thought  carried  that 
the  ancient  Egyptians  spoke  of  the  departed  spirit  as 
having  entered  into  the  nature,  and,  indeed,  into  the 
very  being,  of  the  gods  by  the  rite  of  tasting  blood 
from  the  divine  arm. 

"  '  The  Book  of  the  Dead,'  as  it  is  commonly  called, 
is  a  group,  or  series,  of  ancient  Egyptian  writings  rep- 
resenting the  state  and  the  needs  and  the  progress  of 
the  soul  after  death.  A  copy  of  this  funereal  ritual, 
'  more  or  less  complete  according  to  the  fortune  of  the 
deceased,  was  deposited  in  the  case  of  every  mummy.' 
'  As  the  Book  of  the  Dead  is  the  most  ancient,  so  it  is 
undoubtedly  the  most  important  of  the  sacred  books 
of  the  Egyptians ;'  it  is,  in  fact, '  according  to  Egyptian 
notions,  essentially  an  inspired  work ;'  hence  its  con- 
tents have  an  exceptional  dogmatic  value.  In  this 
book  there  are  several  obvious  references  to  the  rite  of 
blood-covenanting.  Some  of  these  are  in  a  chapter  of 
the  ritual  which  was  found  transcribed  in  a  coffin  of 
the  eleventh  dynasty,  thus  carrying  it  back  to  a  period 
prior  to  the  days  of  the  patriarchs. 

" '  Give  me  your  arm  ;  I  am  made  as  ye,'  says  the 
departed  soul,  speaking  to  the  gods.  Then,  in  explana- 
tion of  this  statement,  the  pre-historic  gloss  of  the  ritual 
goes  on  to  say :  '  The  blood  is  that  which  proceeds 
from  the  member  of  the  Sun  after  he  goes  along  cut- 
ting himself;'  the  covenant  blood  which  unites  the 
soul  and  the  god  is  drawn  from  the  flesh  of  Ra  when 
he  has  cut  himself  in  the  rite  of  that  covenant.     By 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  387 

this  covenant-cutting  the  deceased  becomes  one  with 
the  covenanting  gods.  Again,  the  departing  soul, 
speaking  as  Osiris — or  as  the  Osirian,  which  every 
mummy  represents — says  :  '  I  am  the  soul  in  his  two 
halves/  This  was  at  least  two  thousand  years  before 
the  days  of  the  Greek  philosopher.  How  much  earlier 
it  was  recognized  does  not  appear. 

"  Moreover,  a  *  red  talisman,'  or  red  amulet,  stained 
with  '  the  blood  of  Isis,'  and  containing  a  record  of  the 
covenant,  was  placed  at  the  neck  of  the  mummy  as  an 
assurance  of  safety  to  his  soul.  '  When  this  book  [this 
amulet-record]  has  been  made,'  says  the  ritual,  'it 
causes  Isis  to  protect  him.'  '  If  this  book  is  known,' 
says  Horus,  'he  [the  deceased]  is  in  the  service  of 
Osiris.  .  .  .  His  name  is  like  that  of  the  gods.' " 

Dr.  Trumbull  properly  remarks  : 

"  Thus  in  ancient  Egypt,  in  ancient  Canaan,  in  an- 
cient Mexico,  in  modern  Turkey,  in  modern  Russia, 
in  modern  India,  and  in  modern  Otaheite,  in  Africa, 
in  Asia,  in  America,  in  Europe,  and  in  Oceanica, 
blood-giving  was  life-giving.  Life-giving  was  love- 
showing.  Love-showing  was  a  heart-yearning  after 
union  in  love  and  in  life  and  in  blood  and  in  very 
being.  That  was  the  primitive  thought  in  the  prim- 
itive religions  of  all  the  world. 

"  An  ancient  Chaldean  legend,  as  recorded  by  Bero- 
sus,  ascribes  a  new  creation  of  mankind  to  the  mixture 
by  the  gods  of  the  dust  of  the  earth  with  the  blood 
that  flowed  from  the  severed  head  of  the  god  Belus. 
'  On  this  account  it  is  that  men  are  rational  and  par- 


388  SKELETON  KEYS. 

take  of  divine  knowledge,'  says  Berosus.  The  blood 
of  the  god  gives  them  the  life  and  nature  of  a  god. 
Yet,  again,  the  early  Phoenician  and  the  early  Greek 
theogonies,  as  recorded  by  Sanchoniathon  and  by  He- 
siod,  ascribe  the  vivifying  of  mankind  to  the  outpoured 
blood  of  the  gods.  It  was  from  the  blood  of  Oiiranos, 
or  of  Saturn,  dripping  into  the  sea  and  mingling  with 
its  foam,  that  Venus  was  formed,  to  become  the  mother 
of  her  heroic  posterity.  '  The  Orphics,  which  have 
borrowed  so  largely  from  the  East,'  says  Lenormant, 
*said  that  the  immaterial  part  of  man,  his  soul,  his 
life,  sprang  from  the  blood  of  Dionysus  Zagreus,  M'hom 
.  .  .  Titans  had  torn  to  pieces,  partly  devouring  his 
members.' 

"  Homer  explicitly  recognizes  this  universal  belief 
in  the  power  of  blood  to  convey  life  and  to  be  a  means 
of  revivifying  the  dead. 

"  Indeed,  it  is  claimed,  with  a  show  of  reason,  that 
the  very  word  (surquinu)  which  was  used  for  *  altar '  in 
the  Assyrian  was  primarily  the  word  for  '  table ' — that, 
in  fact,  what  was  known  as  the  '  altar '  to  the  gods  was 
originally  the  table  of  communion  between  the  gods 
and  their  worshippers." 

From  the  writings  of  Livingstone,  the  African  ex- 
plorer, as  well  as  from  the  reports  of  Stanley,  it  appears 
that  the  custom  of  blood-covenanting  is  kept  up  in 
Africa  in  these  modern  times. 

Describing  the  ceremony,  Livingstone  says :  "  It  is 
accomplished  thus  :  The  hands  of  the  parties  are  join- 
ed (in  this  case  Pitsane  and  Sambanza  were  the  parties 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  389 

engaged).  Small  incisions  are  made  on  the  clasped, 
hands,  on  the  pits  of  the  stomach  of  each,  and  on  the 
right  cheeks  and  foreheads.  A  small  quantity  of  blood 
is  taken  from  these  points,  in  both  parties,  by  means  of 
a  stalk  of  grass.  The  blood  from  one  person  is  put 
into  a  pot  of  beer,  and  that  of  the  second  into  another ; 
each  then  drinks  the  other's  blood,  and  they  are  sup- 
posed to  become  perpetual  friends  or  relations.  During 
the  drinking  of  the  beer  some  of  the  party  continue 
beating  the  ground  with  short  clubs  and  utter  sentences 
by  way  of  ratifying  the  treaty." 

The  primitive  character  of  these  customs  is  the  more 
probable  from  the  fact  that  Livingstone  first  found  them 
existing  in  a  region  where,  in  his  opinion,  the  dress  and 
household  utensils  of  the  people  are  identical  with  those 
represented  on  the  monuments  of  ancient  Egypt. 

Concerning  the  origin  of  this  rite  in  this  region, 
Cameron  says  :  "  This  custom  of  '  making  brothers '  I 
believe  to  be  really  of  Semitic  origin." 

Henry  M.  Stanley,  who  was  sent  to  rescue  Living- 
stone, gives  many  interesting  accounts  of  his  experience 
with  the  blood-covenanters.  In  1871,  Stanley  encoun- 
tered the  forces  of  Mirambo,  the  greatest  of  African 
warriors.  They  agreed  to  make  "  strong  friendship  " 
with  each  other.     The  ceremony  is  thus  described  : 

"  Manwa  Sera,  Stanley's  '  chief  captain,'  was  request- 
ed to  seal  our  friendship  by  performing  the  ceremony 
of  blood-brotherhood  between  Mirambo  and  myself. 
Having  caused  us  to  sit  fronting  each  other  on  a  straw 
carpet,  he  made  an  incision  in  each  of  our  right  legs, 


390  SKELETON  KEYS. 

from  which  he  extracted  blood,  and,  interchanging  it,  he 
exclaimed  aloud, '  If  either  of  you  break  this  brother- 
hood now  established  between  you,  may  the  lion  devour 
him,  the  serpent  poison  him,  bitterness  be  in  his  food,  his 
friends  desert  him,  his  gun  burst  in  his  hands  and  wound 
him,  and  everything  that  is  bad  do  wrong  to  him  until 
death.' "  The  same  blood  now  flowed  in  the  veins  of 
both  Stanley  and  Mirambo.  They  were  friends  and 
brothers  in  a  sacred  covenant — life  for  life.  At  the  con- 
clusion of  the  covenant  they  exchanged  gifts,  as  the  cus- 
tomary ratification  or  accompaniment  of  the  compact. 
They  even  vied  with  each  other  in  proofs  of  their  un- 
selfish fidelity  in  this  new  covenant  of  friendship. 

Again  and  again,  before  and  after  this  incident, 
Stanley  entered  into  the  covenant  of  blood-brotherhood 
with  representative  Africans  more  than  fifty  times,  in 
some  instances  by  the  opening  of  his  own  veins;  at 
other  times  by  allowing  one  of  his  personal  escort  to 
bleed  for  him. 

Thus  we  see  that  in  ancient  and  modern  times, 
among  all  people  and  in  all  portions  of  the  earth,  this 
idea  of  blood-friendship  prevailed.  In  the  primitive 
East,  in  the  wild  West,  in  the  cold  North,  and  in  the 
torrid  South  this  rite  shows  itself.  "  It  will  be  ob- 
served," says  Dr.  Trumbull,  "that  we  have  already 
noted  proofs  of,  the  independent  existence  of  this  rite 
of  blood-brotherhood  or  blood-friendship  among  the 
three  great  primitive  divisions  of  the  race — the  Semitic, 
the  Hamitic,  and  the  Japhetic ;  and  this  in  Asia,  Afri- 
ca, Europe,  America,  and  the  islands  of  the  sea ;  again, 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  391 

among  the  five  modern  and  more  popular  divisions  of 
the  human  family — Caucasian,  Mongolian,  Ethiopian, 
Malay,  and  American.  This  fact  in  itself  would  seem 
to  point  to  a  common  origin  of  its  various  manifestations 
in  the  early  Oriental  home  of  the  now  scattered  peoples 
of  the  world. 

"  The  Egyptian  amulet  of  blood-friendship  was  red, 
as  representing  the  blood  of  the  gods.  The  Egyptian 
word  for  '  red '  sometimes  stood  for  *  blood.'  The  sa- 
cred directions  in  the  Book  of  the  Dead  were  written 
in  red  ;  hence  follows  our  word  '  rubric'  The  Rabbis 
say  that  when  persecution  forbade  the  wearing  of  the 
phylacteries  with  safety,  a  red  thread  might  be  substi- 
tuted for  this  token  of  the  covenant  with  the  Lord. 
It  was  a  red  thread  which  Joshua  gave  to  Rahab  as  a 
token  of  her  covenant  relations  with  the  people  of  the 
Lord.  The  red  thread  in  China  to-day  binds  the  double 
cup  from  which  the  bride  and  bridegroom  drink  their 
covenant  draught  of '  wedding  wine,'  as  if  in  symbolism 
of  the  covenant  of  blood.  And  it  is  a  red  thread  which 
in  India  to-day  is  used  to  bind  a  sacred  amulet  around 
the  arm  or  the  neck.  Among  the  American  Indians 
scarlet,  or  red,  is  the  color  which  stands  for  sacrifices 
or  for  sacrificial  blood  in  all  their  picture-painting; 
and  the  shrine,  or  tunkan,  which  continues  to  have  its 
devotees,  '  is  painted  red,  as  a  sign  of  active  or  living 
worship.'  The  same  is  true  of  the  shrines  in  India ; 
the  color  red  shows  that  worship  is  still  living  there ; 
red  continues  to  stand  for  blood." 

When  a  Jewish  child  is  circumcised,  it  is  commonly 


392  SKELETON  KEYS. 

said  of  him  that  he  is  caused  "  to  enter  into  the  covenant 
of  Abraliam ;"  and  his  godfather  or  sponsor  is  called 
Baal-beerith,  "master  of  the  covenant."  Moreover, 
even  down  to  modern  times  the  rite  of  circumcision  has 
included  a  recognition,  however  unconscious,  of  the 
primitive  blood-friendship  rite,  by  the  custom  of  the 
rabbi,  as  God's  representative,  receiving  into  his  mouth 
the  prepuce  or  foreskin  that  is  cut  from  the  boy,  and 
thereby  being  made  a  partaker  of  the  blood  mingled 
with  wine,  according  to  the  method  described  among 
the  Orientals,  in  the  rite  of  blood-friendship,  from  the 
earliest  days  of  history.  We  make  this  statement  on 
the  testimony  of  Buxtorf,  who  is  a  recognized  authority 
in  matters  of  Jewish  customs,  though  he  gives  it  in 
Latin,  with  a  view  of  limiting  a  knowledge  of  the 
facts. 

All  that  we  have  stated  concerning  the  blood-cove- 
nant brings  us  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  disgusting  and 
beastly  habit  of  cannibalism.  Dr.  Trumbull  says  :  "  It 
would  even  seem  to  be  indicated,  by  all  the  trend  of 
historic  facts,  that  cannibalism — gross,  repulsive,  inhu- 
man cannibalism — had  its  basis  in  man's  perversion  of 
this  outreaching  of  his  nature  (whether  that  outreach- 
ing  were  first  directed  by  revelation  or  by  divinely- 
given  innate  promptings)  after  inter-union  and  inter- 
communion with  God,  after  life  in  God's  life,  and  after 
growth  through  the  partaking  of  God's  food  or  of  that 
food  which  represents  God.  The  studies  of  many  ob- 
servers in  widely-different  fields  have  led  both  the 
rationalistic  and  the  faith-filled  student  to  conclude 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  393 

that  in  their  sphere  of  observation  it  was  a  religious 
sentiment,  and  not  a  mere  animal  craving — either 
through  a  scarcity  of  food  or  from  a  spirit  of  malig- 
nity— that  was  at  the  bottom  of  cannibalistic  practices 
there,  even  if  that  field  were  an  exception  to  the  world's 
fields  generally.  And  now  we  have  a  glimpse  of  the 
nature  and  workings  of  that  religious  sentiment  which 
prompted  cannibalism  wherever  it  has  been  practised. 
In  misdirected  pursuance  of  this  thought  men  have 
given  the  blood  of  a  consecrated  human  victim  to  bring 
themselves  into  union  with  God ;  and  then  they  have 
eaten  the  flesh  of  that  victim  which  had  supplied  the 
blood  which  made  them  one  with  God.  This  seems  to 
be  the  basis  of  fact  in  the  premises,  whatever  may  be 
the  understood  philosophy  of  the  facts.  Why  men 
reasoned  thus  may  indeed  be  in  question.  That  they 
reasoned  thus  seems  evident.  Certain  it  is,  that  where 
cannibalism  has  been  studied  in  modern  times  it  has 
commonly  been  found  to  have  had  originally  a  relig- 
ious basis ;  and  the  inference  is  a  fair  one  that  it  must 
have  been  the  same  wherever  cannibalism  existed  in 
earlier  times.  Even  in  some  regions  where  cannibal- 
ism has  long  since  been  prohibited  there  are  traditions 
and  traces  of  its  former  existence  as  a  purely  religious 
rite.  Thus,  in  India  little  images  of  flour  paste  or  clay 
are  now  made  for  decapitation  or  other  mutilation  in 
the  temples,  in  avowed  imitation  of  human  beings  who 
were  once  offered  and  eaten  there." 

R^ville,  treating  of  the  native  religions  of  Mexico 
and  Peru,  comes  to  a  similar  conclusion  with  Dorman, 


394  SKELETON  KEYS.  " 

and  he  argues  that  the  state  of  things  which  was  there 
was  the  same  the  world  over,  so  far  as  it  related  to 
cannibalism.  "  Cannibalism,"  he  says,  "  which  is  now 
restricted  to  a  few  of  the  savage  tribes  who  have  re- 
mained closest  to  the  animal  life,  was  once  universal 
to  our  race.  For  no  one  would  ever  have  conceived 
the  idea  of  offering  to  the  gods  a  kind  of  food  which 
excited  nothing  but  disgust  and  horror."  In  this  sug- 
gestion R^ville  indicates  his  conviction  that  the  primal 
idea  of  an  altar  was  a  table  of  blood-bought  communion. 

There  is  something  that  looks  very  much  like  can- 
nibalism in  the  sixth  chapter  of  John's  Gospel.  The 
Jews  murmured  that  Jesus  spoke  of  himself  as  the 
bread  which  came  down  from  heaven,  and  inquired, 
"  How  can  this  man  give  us  of  his  flesh  to  eat  ?  Jesus 
therefore  said  unto  them.  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you.  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man  and 
drink  his  blood  ye  have  not  life  in  yourselves.  He 
that  eateth  ray  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood  hath  eternal 
life ;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day.  For  my 
flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed. 
He  that  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood  abideth 
in  me,  and  I  in  him.  As  the  living  Father  sent  me, 
and  I  live  because  of  the  Father ;  so  he  that  eateth 
me,  he  also  shall  live  because  of  me.  This  is  the  bread 
which  came  down  out  of  heaven ;  not  as  the  fathers 
did  eat,  and  died ;  he  that  eateth  this  bread  shall  live 
for  ever.  These  things  said  he  in  the  synagogue,  as 
he  taught  in  Capernaum." 

This  was  spoken  nearly  two  years  before  he  is  said 


BLOOD-SAL  VA  TION.  395 

to  have  instituted  the  memorial  Supper,  and  has  always 
been  a  mystery  to  commentators,  though  they  allege 
that  the  whole  mystery  is  explained  in  John  6  :  63 : 
"It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth ;  the  flesh  profiteth 
nothing :  the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are 
spirit  and  they  are  life."  This  seems  to  be  very  far- 
fetched indeed — ^an  afterthought.  It  did  not  satisfy 
some  of  his  disciples,  for  "  from  that  time  many  of  his 
disciples  went  back,  and  walked  no  more  with  him." 

From  this  simple  idea  of  securing  faithfulness  by  the 
transfusion  of  the  blood  of  two  persons  seems  to  have 
come  the  idea  of  propitiating  the  gods  by  offering  them 
bloody  sacrifices.  In  primitive  times,  among  barbar- 
ous and  uncivilized  peoples,  the  conception  was  univer- 
sal that  the  gods  were  very  much  like  themselves,  and 
that  therefore  they  would  be  pleased  with  presents. 
When  offended  they  could  be  conciliated,  and  when 
some  crime  had  been  committed  they  could  be  induced 
to  forgive  the  transgressor  by  some  valuable  offering, 
such  as  the  first-fruits  of  the  soil  or  the  most  immac- 
ulate animals  of  the  flock.  This  idea  of  obtaining 
favors  from  the  invisible  powers  was  carried  to  such 
extremes  that  for  the  honor  of  humanity  we  should 
feel  inclined  to  doubt  the  monstrous  stories  were  they 
not  so  well  attested.  The  offering  of  these  sacrifices 
became  so  degraded  and  disgusting  by  superstition  that 
it  ended  in  the  belief  that  the  deity's  anger  could  be 
appeased,  his  revenge  satisfied,  his  vanity  flattered,  and 
that  he  could  be  made  generally  pleased,  by  holocausts 
of  human  beings ;  so  that  the  more  costly  the  sacrifice, 


396  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  more  certain  was  the  deity  to  smile  upon  the  donor. 
The  Moloch-worship,  the  mother  placing  the  babe  in 
the  arms  of  the  monstrous  idol  and  seeing  it  burned 
before  her  own  eyes,  seems  to  exhaust  the  horrors  of 
human  ingenuity.  We  have  only  space  to  state  that 
these  abominations  prevailed  over  most  of  the  heathen 
world  when  the  Old- Testament  rites  and  ceremonies 
came  into  use  among  the  Jews.  We  find  the  custom 
of  oifering  sacrifices  in  the  early  pages  of  Genesis,  when 
it  led  to  the  first  murder.  Cain's  sacrifice,  sacerdotal- 
ists  tell  us,  was  not  accepted  by  Jehovah  because  there 
was  no  blood  in  it,  as  there  was  in  the  offering  of  Abel. 
Abraham  was  about  to  slay  his  own  son  when  the  blood 
of  a  ram  was  provided  instead ;  and,  in  fact,  all  the 
Bible  patriarchs  sacrificed,  and  the  exodus  from  Egypt 
itself  was  brought  about  under  the  pretence  that  the 
people  had  to  go  to  the  desert  to  offer  their  accustomed 
sacrifice. 

The  Jews  borrowed  their  idea  of  sacrifice  from  the 
heathen,  and  sometimes  were  more  heathenish  than  the 
heathens  themselves.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  inno- 
cent animals  were  cruelly  butchered  for  sacrifice,  as  the 
Jews  were  full  of  Egyptian  reminiscences  on  one  hand 
and  of  Canaanitish  modes  of  worship  on  the  other.  It 
is  said  that  Jehovah  allowed  these  abominations  because 
of  the  ignorance  of  these  people  and  their  hardness  of 
heart,  lest  they  might  despise  a  naked  religion  and  be 
dazzled  by  the  imposing  ceremonies  by  which  they 
were  surrounded.  The  whole  system  of  bloody  sacri- 
fices was  based  upon  anthropomorphic  conceptions  of 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  397 

their  Jehovah,  to  whom  the  "  agreeable  smell "  of  the 
blood  was  a  sweet  satisfaction.  The  Jews  adopted  the 
very  worst  features  of  paganism  in  regard  to  these 
bloody  sacrifices,  which  they  oifered  on  all  occasions — 
so  much  so  that  their  prophets  cried  out  against  them 
and  Jehovah  himself  denounced  them. 

The  life  or  blood  of  the  animal  was  distinctly  said 
to  make  "  the  atonement  for  the  soul."  This  notion 
of  a  representative  victim  is  one  that  belonged  to  the 
whole  ancient  world,  as  can  be  seen  by  reference  to  any 
of  the  great  cyclopaedias.  It  was  adopted  by  the  Jews, 
not  revealed  to  them  by  Jehovah.  The  scape-goat 
(Lev.  16)  and  many  other  cases  of  seemingly  expiatory 
sacrifices  are  embodiments  of  this  idea,  which  was 
adopted  by  Christianity  directly  from  Judaism,  whose 
priests  had  adopted  it  from  other  people. 

The  practice  of  bloody  offerings  was  common  to 
Hindoos,  Assyrians,  Phoenicians,  Greeks,  and  North- 
men. There  is  a  Hindoo  ritual  for  human  as  well  as 
for  brute  animals  set  forth  in  Asiatia  Researches.  In 
Fragments  of  Sanchoniathon,  Kronos  sacrifices  his 
"  only  son "  to  his  father  Ouranos,  his  "  father  in 
heaven."  Agamemnon  sacrificed  his  daughter,  Iphi- 
geneia,  before  going  to  Troy,  and  Polyxena,  daughter 
of  Priam,  was  immolated  on  the  tomb  of  Achilles  to 
his  manes.  Repeatedly  in  the  Punic  wars  children  of 
noble  families  were  burned  alive  to  ^sculapius,  god  of 
medicine.  Burning  at  the  stake  and  hanging  upon  a 
gibbet  were  sacrifices  to  appease  the  divine  justice.  In 
short,  all  bloody  sacrifices  were  propitiatory,  to  appease 


398  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  rage  of  hunger  in  a  famished  god.  Blood  was  ex- 
cellent, because  its  aroma  was  the  vehicle  of  life,  and 
so  afforded  support  to  life. 

In  Homer's  Odyssey,  Ulysses  slays  animals  before  the 
ghosts  of  Hades,  and  these  run  up  to  be  nourished  by 
the  blood.  He  draws  his  sword,  rushes  upon  them, 
and  drives  them  away.  Then,  selecting  one  with 
whom  he  wishes  to  talk,  he  feeds  him  with  the  invigor- 
ating vapor,  and  the  ghost  is  then  made  strong  enough 
to  talk. 

But  none  of  these  sacrifices  were  strictly  vicarious. 
The  old  gods  were  angry  at  neglect,  but  never  had  the 
kind  of  justice  that  a  sheep  or  goat  or  cow  could  not 
appease.  The  Jews  were  not  unfamiliar  with  human 
sacrifices  (Lev.  27  :  28,  29  ;  Judg.  11  :  30-39),  and  even 
the  early  Christians  are  said  to  have  offered  bloody 
sacrifices  of  human  beings.  The  deification  of  Jesus 
to  correspond  with  the  apotheosis  of  other  personages 
required  a  divine  parentage.  This  idea  was  not  gotten 
up  until  the  second  Christian  century.  Justin  made 
Jesus  a  second  god.  But  the  earlier  Fathers  did  not 
connect  the  notion  of  the  vicarious  atonement  with  that 
of  original  sin  and  total  depravity.  Basilides  main- 
tained that  penal  suffering  or  suffering  for  purposes  of 
justice  of  necessity  implies  personal  criminality  in  the 
sufferer,  and  therefore  cannot  be  endured  by  an  inno- 
cent person  as  a  substitute. 

Prof.  Robertson  Smith,  LL.D.,  in  the  EncydopcBdia 
BHtanniea,  in  his  learned  article  on  "  Sacrifice,"  says 
in  part :  "  Where  we  find  a  practice  of  sacrificing  hon- 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  399 

orific  gifts  to  the  gods,  we  usually  find  also  certain  other 
sacrifices  which  resemble  those  already  characterized, 
inasmuch  as  something  is  given  up  by  the  worshippers 
to  be  consumed  in  sacred  ceremony,  but  differ  from 
them,  inasmuch  as  the  sacrifice — usually  a  living  vic- 
tim— is  not  regarded  as  a  tribute  of  honor  to  the  god, 
but  has  a  special  or  mystic  significance.  The  most  fa- 
miliar case  of  this  second  species  of  sacrifice  is  that 
which  the  Romans  distinguished  from  the  hostia  hono- 
raria by  the  name  of  hostia  piacularis.  Xn  the  former 
case  the  deity  accepts  a  gift ;  in  the  latter,  he  demands 
a  life.  The  former  kind  of  sacrifice  is  offered  by  the 
worshipper  on  the  basis  of  an  established  relation  of 
friendly  dependence  on  his  divine  lord ;  the  latter  is 
directed  to  appease  the  divine  anger  or  to  conciliate  the 
favor  of  a  deity  on  whom  the  worshipper  has  no  right 
to  count"  (vol.  xxi.  p.  132). 

Piacular  Sacrijices. — "  The  idea  of  substitution  is 
widespread  among  all  early  religions,  and  is  found  in 
honorific  as  well  as  piacular  rites.  In  all  such  cases 
the  idea  is  that  the  substitute  shall  imitate  as  closely 
as  is  possible  or  convenient  the  victim  whose  place  it 
supplies ;  and  so  in  piacular  ceremonies  the  god  may 
indeed  accept  one  life  for  another,  or  certain  select  lives 
to  atone  for  the  guilt  of  a  whole  community  ;  but  these 
lives  ought  to  be  of  the  guilty  kin,  just  as  in  blood- 
revenge  the  death  of  any  kinsman  of  the  manslayer 
satisfies  justice.  Hence  such  rites  as  the  Semitic  sac- 
rifices of  children  by  their  fathers  [Moloch],  the  sac- 
rifice of  Iphigeneia  and  similar  cases  among  the  Greeks, 


400  SKELETON  KEYS. 

or  the  offering  up  of  boys  to  the  goddess  Mania  at 
Rome.  .  .  . 

"  In  advanced  societies  the  tendency  is  to  modify  the 
horrors  of  the  ritual,  either  by  accepting  an  effusion  of 
blood  without  actually  slaying  the  victim — e.  g.  in  tlie 
flagellation  of  the  Spartan  lads — or  by  a  further  exten- 
sion of  the  doctrine  of  substitution :  the  Romans,  for 
example,  substituted  puppets  for  the  human  sacrifices  to 
Mania,  and  cast  rush  dolls  into  the  Tiber,  at  the  yearly 
atoning  sacrifice  on  the  Sublician  Bridge.  More  usu- 
ally, however,  the  life  of  an  animal  is  accepted  by  the 
god  in  place  of  a  human  life.  .  .  .  Among  the  Egyp- 
tians the  victim  was  marked  with  a  seal  bearing  the 
image  of  a  man  bound  and  kneeling  with  a  sword  at 
his  throat.  And  often  we  find  a  ceremonial  laying  of 
the  sin  to  be  expiated  on  the  head  of  the  victim  (Herod, 
ii.  39 ;  Lev.  4  :  4,  compared  with  14  :  21). 

"  In  such  piacular  rites  the  god  demands  only  the 
life  of  the  victim,  which  is  sometimes  indicated  by  a 
special  ritual  with  the  blood  (as  among  the  Hebrews 
the  blood  of  the  sin-offering  was  applied  to  the  horns 
of  the  altar  or  to  the  mercy-seat  within  the  veil),  and 
there  is  no  sacrificial  meal.  Thus,  among  the  Greeks 
the  carcase  of  the  victim  was  buried  or  cast  into  the  sea 
[comp.  with  most  important  Hebrew  sin-offerings  and 
sacrifice  of  children  to  Moloch — outside  the  camp  or 
city]. 

"  When  the  flesh  of  the  sacrifice  is  consumed  by  the 
priests,  as  with  certain  Roman  piacula  and  Hebrew 
sin-offerings,  the  sacrificial  flesh  is  seemingly  a  gift  ac- 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  401 

cepted  by  the  deity  and  assigned  by  him  to  the  priests, 
so  that  the  distinction  between  a  honorific  and  a  piac- 
ular  sacrifice  is  partly  obliterated.  But  this  is  not 
hard  to  understand;  for  just  as  a  blood -rite  takes  the 
place  of  blood-revenge  in  human  justice,  so  an  offence 
against  the  gods  may  in  certain  cases  be  redeemed  by  a 
fine  (e.  g.  Herod,  ii.  65)  or  a  sacrificial  gift.  This 
seems  to  have  been  the  origin  of  the  Hebrew  trespass- 
offering  (p.  136). 

"  The  most  curious  developments  of  piacular  sacrifice 
take  place  in  the  worship  of  deities  of  the  totem  type. 
Here  the  natural  substitute  for  the  death  of  a  criminal 
of  the  tribe  is  an  animal  of  the  kind  with  which  the 
worshippers  and  their  god  alike  count  kindred — an 
animal,  that  is,  which  must  not  be  offered  in  a  sacri- 
ficial feast,  and  which  indeed  it  is  impious  to  kill. 
Thus,  Hecat6  was  invoked  as  a  dog,  and  dogs  were 
her  piacular  sacrifices.  And  in  like  manner  in  Egypt 
the  piacular  sacrifice  of  the  cow-goddess  Isis-Hathor 
was  a  bull,  and  the  sacrifice  was  accompanied  by  lam- 
entations as  at  the  funeral  of  a  kinsman." 

Under  the  head  of  Mystical  or  Sa&i^amental  Sacrifices 
— i.  e.  sacrifices  at  initiations  and  in  the  Hysterics: 
"  According  to  Julian,  the  mystical  sacrifices  of  the 
cities  of  the  Roman  empire  were  .  .  .  offered  once  or 
twice  a  year,  and  consisted  of  such  victims  as  the  dog 
of  Hecate,  which  might  not  ordinarily  be  eaten  or  used 
to  furnish  forth  the  tables  of  the  gods.  .  .  .  The  mystic 
sacrifices  seem  always  to  have  had  an  atoning  efficacy ; 
their  special  feature  is  that  the  victim  is  not  simply 

26 


402  SKELETON  KEYS. 

slain  and  burned  or  cast  away,  but  that  the  worship- 
pers partake  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  sacred  ani- 
mal, and  that  so  his  life  passes,  as  it  were,  into  their 
lives  and  knits  them  to  the  deity  in  living  communion. 

"  In  the  Old  Testament  the  heathen  mysteries  seem 
to  appear  as  ceremonies  of  initiation  by  which  a  man 
was  introduced  into  a  new  worship.  .  .  .  But  originally 
the  initiation  must  have  been  introduction  into  a  par- 
ticular social  community.  .  .  .  From  this  point  of 
view  the  sacramental  rites  of  mystical  sacrifice  are  a 
form  of  blood-covenant.  ...  In  all  the  forms  of 
blood-covenant,  whether  a  sacrifice  is  offered  or  the 
veins  of  the  parties  opened  and  their  own  blood  used, 
the  idea  is  the  same :  the  bond  created  is  a  bond  of 
kindred,  because  one  blood  is  now  in  the  veins  of  all 
who  have  shared  the  ceremony." 

A  learned  friend  writes  me :  "  I  doubt  whether  a 
real  distinction  can  be  made  between  propitiatory  and 
expiatory  sacrifices.  Propitiation  is  by  expiation.  The 
basic  idea  in  all  sacrifices  of  that  nature  appears  to  be 
substitution;  that  is,  something  taking  the  place  of  the 
offender.  ...  It  seems  that  the  basis  of  all  sacrifice 
is  to  be  found  in  a  relationship,  or  kinship  (through 
blood),  between  the  deity — who  is  only  the  represen- 
tative of  the  tribal  head  regarded  as  still  living  in  the 
spirit-world — and  the  worshipper. 

"  I  may  add  that  the  idea  of  pollution  by  wrong- 
doing— i.  €.  offending  the  tribal  deity — to  be  got  rid  of 
only  by  the  shedding  of  blood,  is  not  unknown  to  so- 
called   savages.      This  applies   especially   to   offences 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  403 

against  chastity,  as  with  the  Mdlers  of  Rajmahal,  In- 
dia, and  the  Dyaks  of  Borneo.  The  pig  is  the  animal 
usually  sacrificed — probably  because  it  is  the  most  val- 
uable animal  food.  The  Pddam  Abors  of  Assam  look 
upon  all  crimes  as  public  pollutions  which  require  to 
be  washed  away  by  a  public  sacrifice.  Here  we  have 
the  idea  of  cleansing  by  the  application  of  blood,  and 
this  appears  to  be  the  idea  also  with  the  Malers,  and 
probably  among  the  aboriginal  hill-tribes  of  India 
generally." 

Mommsen,  the  Roman  historian,  says  :  "  At  the  very 
core  of  the  Latin  religion  there  lay  that  profound  moral 
impulse  which  leads  men  to  bring  earthly  guilt  and 
earthly  punishment  into  relation  with  the  world  of  the 
gods,  and  to  view  the  former  as  a  crime  against  the 
gods,  and  the  latter  as  its  expiation.  The  execution 
of  the  criminal  condemned  to  death  was  as  much  an 
expiatory  sacrifice  oifered  to  the  divinity  as  was  the 
killing  of  an  enemy  in  just  war;  the  thief  who  by 
night  stole  the  fruits  of  the  field  paid  the  penalty  to 
Ceres  on  the  gallows,  just  as  the  enemy  paid  it  to 
mother  earth  and  the  good  spirits  on  the  field  of  battle. 
The  fearful  idea  of  substitution  also  meets  us  here : 
when  the  gods  of  the  community  were  angry,  and  no- 
body could  be  laid  hold  of  as  definitely  guilty,  they 
might  be  appeased  by  one  who  voluntarily  gave  him- 
self up  (devovere  se)." 

But  it  was  left  for  Anselm  of  Canterbury,  late  in 
the  eleventh  century,  to  first  formulate  the  doctrine  of 
vicarious  atonement.     Before  this  there  seemed  to  be 


404  SKELETON  KEYS. 

among  the  theologians  the  idea  that  in  some  way  Christ 
came  to  restore,  at  least  in  part,  all  that  was  lost  in 
Adam.  During  the  first  four  centuries  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  there  seems  to  have  been  no  fixed  opinion  as 
to  whether  there  was  a  ransom-price  paid  to  God  or 
the  devil.  Under  the  article  "  Devil "  in  the  Encyclo- 
pcedia  Bntamiica  it  is  said  : 

"  He  [the  devil]  was,  according  to  Cyprian  {De 
Unitaie  Ecd.),  the  author  of  all  heresies  and  delusions : 
he  held  man  by  reason  of  his  sin  in  rightful  possession, 
and  man  could  only  be  rescued  from  his  power  by  the 
ransom  of  Christ's  blood.  This  extraordinary  idea  of 
a  payment  or  satisfaction  to  the  devil  being  made  by 
Christ  as  the  price  of  man's  salvation  is  found  both  in 
Irenseus  (^Adv.  Hcer.,  v.  1.  1.)  and  in  Origen,  and  may 
be  said  to  have  held  its  sway  in  the  Church  for  a  thou- 
sand years.  And  yet  Origen  is  credited  with  the  opin- 
ion that,  bad  as  the  devil  was,  he  was  not  altogether 
beyond  hope  of  pardon." 

It  would  be  tedious  to  note  the  various  views  that 
have  prevailed  among  theologians  to  the  present  day. 
Some  hold  that  the  oifering  was  made  to  God  to  satisfy 
divine  justice;  others  hold  that  it  was  a  commercial 
transaction — so  much  blood  for  so  many  souls ;  and 
still  others  regard  the  whole  as  a  governmental  display 
to  impress  the  world  with  a  sense  of  the  hatefulness  of 
sin.  Calvinists  seem  to  think  that  the  atonement  was 
only  made  for  the  elect,  but  that  the  blood  of  Christ 
had  sufficient  merit  to  save  the  whole  world.  Roman 
Catholics  hold  that  it  is  the  literal,  material  blood  of 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  406 

Christ  that  saves  the  sinner,  and  hence  their  extreme 
belief  in  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation,  the  real  body 
and  blood  of  Jesus  being  offered  in  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass,  and  taken  by  the  penitent  in  the  Holy  Commu- 
nion. Protestants  generally  hold  to  a  sort  of  consub- 
stantiation — a  sort  of  real  presence  in  the  sacrament ; 
while  persons  of  intelligence  profess  to  believe  that  this 
whole  theory  of  blood-salvation  is  only  to  be  accepted 
in  a  figurative  sense.  The  fact  is,  that  the  whole 
scheme  of  vicarious  atonement  is  an  ancient  supersti- 
tion, though  taught  in  the  New  Testament,  and  is 
absurd  and  unphilosophical,  and  false  in  principle 
and  in  practice,  as  we  shall  hereafter  show. 

We  leave  altogether  out  of  view  the  logical  conclu- 
sion that  if  the  blood  shed  by  Jesus  was  the  blood  of  a 
man,  it  could  have  had  no  more  efficacy  than  the  blood 
of  any  other  human  being,  and  that  if  the  blood  shed 
was  the  blood  of  a  God,  the  very  mention  of  the  thought 
is  absurd  and  blasphemous  in  the  extreme.  It  is  non- 
sense to  say  that  it  was  the  union  of  the  divine  with 
the  human  nature  that  gave  the  blood  of  Christ  its  pe- 
culiar efficacy — that  "  the  altar  sanctifies  the  gift ;"  for 
if  the  blood  was  changed  by  the  man  being  united  with 
the  God,  it  was  not  human  blood,  but  the  blood  of  a 
divine  man. 

Now,  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  blood  of  Jesus 
(supposing  that  he  was  crucified)  differed  in  its  essen- 
tial qualities  from  other  human  blood.  If  analyzed 
by  the  chemist,  it  would  have  been  found  to  contain 
only  the  constituent  particles  which  belong  to  human 


406  SKELETON  KEYS. 

blood.  The  white  and  red  corpuscles  and  other  chem- 
ical properties  would  have  been  found  in  it. 

The  dogma  of  blood-salvation  as  held  by  Romanists 
is  cannibalism,  pure  and  simple,  and  as  held  by  Prot- 
estants it  is  sheer  superstition,  without  one  grain  of 
reason  to  support  it.  It  has  no  analogy  in  nature,  nor 
in  the  philosophy  of  legal  jurisprudence  as  held  and 
practised  by  the  most  enlightened  nations  of  the  world. 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  doctrine  of  vicarious  atone- 
ment is  not  only  immoral,  but  demoralizing.  It  repre- 
sents God  as  punishing  the  innocent  for  the  guilty  to 
make  it  possible  to  forgive  the  guilty.  This  is  incon- 
sistent with  the  eternal  principles  of  justice  and  right- 
fulness. It  must  have  a  demoralizing  influence  upon 
the  mind  and  conscience  of  the  sinner,  to  be  told  that 
his  sins  are  already  atoned  for,  and  he  only  need  to  be 
cleansed  by  the  blood  of  Christ ;  and  this  is  to  be  ob- 
tained by  simple  faith  and  trust !  Believe  that  Jesus 
shed  his  blood  for  you,  and  that  he  is  waiting  and 
anxious  to  apply  it  in  washing  away  your  guilt,  and 
it  is  done !  Then  as  often  as  you  sin  afterward  you 
need  only  go  through  the  same  process  to  secure  par- 
don !  The  easiness  with  which  sins  may  be  blotted 
out  and  washed  away  must  have  a  demoralizing  in- 
fluence upon  uneducated  minds,  though  truly  intelli- 
gent persons  may  not  reason  in  this  way.  The  low 
state  of  morals  among  those  who  really  believe  in 
this  device  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins  may  thus  be  ac- 
counted for.  The  numerous  defalcations  and  down- 
right thefts  among  the  higher  classes  of  Christians, 


BLOOD-SAL  VA  TION.  407 

and  the  petty  lying  and  stealing  among  the  great  mass 
of  Catholics  and  Protestants,  are  notorious,  and  can  be 
traced,  we  think,  to  the  easy  methods  of  getting  rid  of 
the  consequencees  of  wrong-doing.  Our  prison-statistics 
are  truly  suggestive,  and  should  be  carefully  studied. 
Freethinkers  are  far  in  advance  of  Christians  in  the 
matter  of  practical  morality.  Many  of  those  whom 
the  courts  exclude  as  witnesses,  because  they  do  not 
accept  certain  religious  dogmas,  are  pre-eminently 
truthful,  and  would  sooner  die  than  tell  a  falsehood. 
They  do  not  rely  upon  the  blood  of  Jasus  to  wash 
away  the  vilest  sins  and  make  them  white  as  snow. 

Our  statesmen  are  beginning  to  find  out  that  our 
system  oi pardon  is  most  pernicious.  To  relieve  from 
the  consequences  of  wrong-doing  through  a  divine  con- 
trivance of  the  vicarious  sufferings  of  an  innocent  per- 
son, and  that  human  disobedience  is  made  all  right  as 
to  consequences  by  this  obedience  of  a  divine-human 
person,  does  not  commend  itself  to  the  intelligence  of 
this  nineteenth  century.  The  answer  of  theologians  to 
this  charge  is  familiar  and  specious  enough,  but  it  is 
not  practically  accepted  by  the  common  people.  When 
a  child  enters  the  Sunday-school  room,  and  his  eyes 
rest  upon  the  conspicuous  placard,  "Jesus  Paid  it 
All"  the  natural  inference  is  there  is  nothing  more 
to  pay,  nothing  to  do  but  to  accept  the  free  gift. 

Thousands  of  ignorant  persons,  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants, no  doubt  secretly  accept  and  rely  upon  this 
easy  device  to  cover  up  their  numerous  shortcomings 
and  misdoings.     This  doctrine  is  a  welcome  one  in  the 


408  SKELETON  KEYS. 

murderer^s  cell  and  upon  the  platform  of  the  gallows. 
In  thousands  of  uncultivated  minds  the  thought  is  no 
doubt  deeply  hidden  that  about  the  surest  way  to  get 
to  heaven  is  to  commit  a  murder  and  have  the  "  l)en- 
efit  of  clergy/'  and  in  due  time  to  be  "jerked  to  Jesus  " 
(as  described  by  a  Western  journal)  by  the  hangman's 
rope.  Why  should  it  not  be  so  ?  The  vicarious  atone- 
ment has  been  made,  and  is  being  made  in  the  Mass, 
and  they  have  only  to  accept  it.  Two  priests  or  min- 
isters actually  opposed  the  postponement  of  the  execu- 
tion of  a  certain  murderer  on  the  ground  that  he  then 
believed  in  Jesus,  but  that  if  execution  was  postponed 
they  did  not  know  that  he  would  continue  to  "  believe,'' 
and  that  his  soul  might  thus  be  lost ! 

Suppose  that  our  State  authorities  should  proclaim 
in  advance  free  pardon  and  a  princely  palace  to  all  law- 
breakers on  the  simple  condition  of  trusting  in  the 
mediatorial  interposition  and  substitution  of  another, 
already  made  and  accepted ;  what  would  be  the  effect 
on  public  morals?  The  system  of  redemption  and 
pardon  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament  is  infinitely 
more  than  this,  and  must  be  demoralizing.  All  pub- 
lic officers  know  the  evil  effects  of  the  pardon  system, 
and  how  even  the  faintest  hope  of  pardon  encourages 
crime,  and  how  certainly  a  free  pardon  is  almost  sure 
to  be  followed  by  a  life  of  increased  criminality. 

There  should  be  no  such  thing  as  pardon  in  our 
State  jurisprudence — no  "  board  of  pardons"  and  no 
"exercise  of  the  executive  clemency."  If  a  convict  is 
believed  to  have  been  wrongly  imprisoned,  or  by  after- 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  409 

discovered  evidence  is  found  to  be  innocent,  let  no 
"  pardon  board  "  or  "  executive  "  interfere,  but  let  the 
case  go  back  to  the  court  that  convicted  him  or  to  one 
of  like  jurisdiction,  and  let  the  case  be  judicially  re- 
viewed in  the  light  of  evidence ;  and  if  the  accused  is 
found  innocent,  let  him  be  honorably  acquitted,  or  if 
guilty  remanded  to  prison. 

There  is  nothing  in  reason,  philosophy,  or  science 
that  approves  the  theologic  method  of  dealing  with 
offenders.  It  violates  every  principle  of  justice,  and 
has  not  one  single  quality  of  rightfulness  in  it.  It  is 
a  fiction  pure  and  simple,  in  form  and  in  fact.  Ma- 
caulay  well  said  of  this  redemptive  scheme,  "  It  resem- 
bles nothing  so  much  as  a  forged  bond,  with  a  forged 
release  endorsed  upon  its  back."  Gregg  pungently  put 
it  thus  :  "  It  looks  very  much  like  an  impossible  debt 
paid  in  inconceivable  coin ;  or  a  legal  fiction  purely 
gratuitous  got  rid  of  by  what  looks  like  a  legal  chi- 
canery purely  fanciful.  It  gives  unworthy  conceptions 
of  God  as  one  delighting  in  the  blood  of  human  beings, 
and  even  suggests  the  disgusting  practices  of  cannibal- 
ism. It  is  a  relic  of  the  ancient  barbaric  fetichisra 
borrowed  from  savages  by  sacerdotalists  for  purposes 
of  priestcraft,  and  should  be  scouted  by  all  honest  and 
intelligent  men." 

The  severely  orthodox  Rev.  Professor  Shedd,  as 
■well  as  Dr.  Priestley,  admits  that  there  was  no  scien- 
tific construction  of  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  in 
the  writings  of  the  apostolic  Fathers  {Hist  of  Doc, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  208).     The  doctrine  was  evidently  manufac- 


410  SKELETON  KEYS. 

tured  when  the  Romish  Church  was  evolved  out  of  the 
innumerable  sects  of  early  Christendom,  and  was  en- 
forced by  wholesale  excommunication  of  dissenters  and 
the  death  penalty.  Christianity  was  planted  in  Ger- 
many, Prussia,  and  Sweden  by  military  power.  The 
Saxons  were  "  converted  "  by  Charlemagne.  All  the 
secret  religions  have  a  god  or  demi-god  put  to  death. 
Even  the  Freemasons  have  Hiram  Abiff.  The  death 
of  Osiris  was  the  central  point  in  the  Egyptian  system. 
He  was  killed  by  Seth  or  Typhon,  and  returned  to  life 
as  Rat-Amenti,  the  judge.  In  Egypt,  Christianity 
moulded  its  doctrines  of  the  Trinity,  atonement,  and 
"  mother  of  God."  The  Osirian  theology  was  grafted 
on  the  Christian  stock,  if  indeed  the  Christian  system 
was  not  an  evolution  of  Osirianism ;  and  of  this  the 
monstrous  concoction  known  as  vicarious  atonement 
was  made,  and  thrust  down  men's  throats  by  threats 
of  hell  and  the  visits  of  the  executioner. 

We  might  extend  our  remarks  upon  this  subject  in- 
definitely, but  we  have  not  space.  We  have  seen  that 
blood-salvation  did  not  originate  with  either  Jews  or 
Christians.  Dr.  Trumbull  has  proved  this  over  and 
over  again,  and  Kurtz,  an  orthodox  writer,  has  ad- 
mitted this  fact.  He  says :  "  A  comparison  of  the 
religious  symbols  of  the  Old  Testament  with  those  of 
ancient  heathendom  shows  that  the  ground  and  the 
starting-point  of  those  forms  of  religion  which  found 
their  appropriate  expressions  in  symbols  was  the  same 
in  all  cases ;  while  the  history  of  civilization  proves 
that  on  this  point  priority  cannot  be  claimed  by  the 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  411 

Israelites.  But  when  instituting  such  an  inquiry  we 
shall  also  find  that  the  symbols  which  were  transferred 
from  the  religions  of  nature  to  that  of  the  spirit  first 
passed  through  the  fire  of  divine  purification,  from 
which  they  issued  as  the  distinctive  theology  of  the 
Jews,  the  dross  of  a  pantheistic  deification  of  nature 
having  been  consumed."  All  this  is  very  frank,  but 
we  should  not  overlook  the  fact,  so  clearly  established, 
that  this  doctrine  of  cleansing  blood,  so  constantly 
taught  in  the  New  Testament  and  proclaimed  from 
every  orthodox  pulpit  in  the  land,  was- not  a  divine 
revelation  specially  made  to  Jews  or  Christians,  but 
has  been  adopted  and  modified  from  the  religions  of 
nature,  celebrated  in  all  parts  of  the  world  by  the 
most  barbarous  peoples  in  the  remotest  periods  of  time. 
Indeed,  the  more  gross  and  savage  the  people,  the  more 
disgusting  has  been  this  doctrine  of  blood-salvation. 

Dr.  Trumbull  could  only  think  of  two  possible  ways 
of  explaining  these  marvellous  things :  "  How  it  came 
to  pass  that  men  everywhere  were  so  generally  agreed 
on  the  main  symbols  of  their  religious  yearnings,  and 
their  religious  hopes  in  this  realm  of  their  aspirations, 
is  a  question  which  obviously  admits  of  two  possible 
answers.  A  coinmon  revelation  from  God  may  have 
been  given  to  primitive  man,  and  all  these  varying 
yet  related  indications  of  religious  strivings  and  aim 
may  be  but  the  perverted  remains  of  the  lessons  of  that 
misused  or  slighted  revelation.  On  the  other  hand, 
God  may  originally  have  implanted  the  germs  of  a 
common  religious  thought  in  the  mind  of  man,  and 


412  SKELETON  KEYS. 

then  have  adapted  his  successive  revelations  to  the 
outworking  of  those  germs.  Whichever  view  of  the 
probable  origin  of  these  common  symbolisms,  all  the 
world  over,  be  adopted  by  any  Christian  student,  the 
importance  of  the  symbolisms  themselves,  in  their  re- 
lation to  the  truths  of  revelation,  is  manifestly  the 
same."  ..."  Because  the  primitive  rite  of  blood- 
covenanting  was  well  known  in  the  lands  of  the  Bible 
at  the  time  of  the  writing  of  the  Bible,  for  that  very 
reason  we  are  not  to  look  to  the  Bible  for  a  specific 
explanation  of  the  rite  itself,  even  where  there  are  in- 
cidental references  in  the  Bible  to  the  rite  and  its  ob- 
servances ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  to  find  an 
explanation  of  the  biblical  illustrations  of  the  primitive 
rite  in  the  understanding  of  that  rite  which  we  gain 
from  outside  sources." 

These  assumptions  are  very  flimsy  stuff  upon  which 
to  found  the  most  prominent  and  mysterious  doctrine 
of  the  orthodox  Christian  religion,  making  it  the  Alpha 
and  Omega  of  the  whole  ^^  scheme  of  redemption."  To 
witness  the  mummeries  of  Roman  Catholic  priests  and 
the  manipulations  of  Protestant  ministers  in  the  cele- 
bration of  the  "  Eucharistic  Feast "  or  "  Holy  Com- 
munion "  is  enough  to  lead  a  truly  intelligent  man  to 
wonder  why  these  celebrants  do  not  laugh  each  other 
in  the  face.  Even  our  Universalist  and  Unitarian 
ministers  sometimes  indulge  in  this  heathen  diversion, 
though  some  of  them  deeply  feel  the  absurdity  of  the 
rite,  and  the  consequent  humiliation  to  which  they  are 
subjected.     Nevertheless,  some  of  our  most  profound 


BLOOD-SALVATION.  413 

statesmen,  when  about  to  die,  call  in  a  priest.  Catholic 
or  Protestant,  to  administer  the  heathen  ordinance. 
When  will  the  world  open  its  blind  eyes,  and  learn 
that  all  that  God  requires  of  men  is  to  "  walk  humbly, 
love  mercy,  and  deal  justly"? 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  accepting  the  words  of  a 
God  who  is  said  to  have  uttered  the  burning  reproof 
to  ritualists  and  hypocrites  as  follows  :  "  To  what  pur- 
pose is  the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices  ?  I  delight  not 
in  the  blood  of  bullocks,  or  of  lambs,  or  of  he-goats. 
Bring  no  more  vain  oblations ;  incense  is  an  abomina- 
tion unto  me ;  the  new  moons  and  sabbaths,  the  calling 
of  assemblies,  I  cannot  away  with ;  it  is  iniquity  even 
the  solemn  meeting.  And  when  you  spread  your 
hands  I  will  hide  mine  eyes  from  you,  yea,  you  make 
many  prayers  I  will  not  hear,  your  hands  are  full  of 
blood.  Wash  ye,  make  you  clean,  put  away  the  evil 
of  your  doings  from  before  mine  eyes ;  cease  to  do  evil ; 
learn  to  do  well,  seek  judgment,  relieve  the  oppressed, 
judge  the  fatherless,  plead  for  the  widows." 

This  doctrine  of  blood-salvation  is,  in  our  judgment, 
most  unphilosophical  and  even  absurd.  It  originated, 
as  we  have  shown,  in  the  most  gross  and  anthropomor- 
phic conceptions  of  God,  and  its  solemn  celebration  in 
orthodox  churches  is  inseparable  from  the  most  igno- 
rant and  superstitious  rites  of  the  most  savage  peoples. 
Its  tendency  must  be  demoralizing. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THINGS  THAT  REMAIN. 

"That  those  things  which  cannot  be  shaken  may  remain." — 
Heb.  12  :  27. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  shown  that  in 
our  judgment  the  time  has  fully  come  for  the  fearless 
proclamation  of  the  whole  truth,  regardless  of  tempo- 
rary consequences. 

We  think  that  we  have  also  shown  that  for  many 
important  reasons  we  cannot  expect  the  whole  truth 
from  the  professional  clergy. 

We  have  shown  that  the  Jews  are  not  the  very  an- 
cient and  numerous  people  that  they  have  been  sup- 
posed to  have  been,  and  that  many  of  their  claims  are 
purely  fabulous ;  and  that  this  is  specially  true  of  their 
Pentateuch,  which  Moses,  supposing  such  a  man  to 
have  lived,  could  not  have  written. 

We  have  shown  how  extensively  symbolism  ancient- 
ly prevailed  in  sacred  writings,  how  modern  sacerdo- 
talists  have  accepted  as  literal  history  and  matters  of 
fact  what  was  at  first  a  romance  or  an  allegory  intend- 
ed to  illustrate  certain  principles,  and  how  the  intro- 
duction of  astral  keys  can  only  explain  many  of  the 
Old-Testament  stories,  which,  taken  literally,  are  ex- 
tremely absurd  and  foolish. 

411 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  415 

We  think  we  have  shown  that  the  "  fall "  of  the 
mythical  Adam  and  Eve  is  an  allegory,  and  not  an 
historical  fact,  and  that  it  is  extremely  unfortunate  that 
the  whole  system  of  dogmatic  theology  is  made  to  de- 
pend upon  a  mythus. 

We  have  gone  in  search  of  the  "  second  Adam,"  and 
have  not  found  him,  except  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  we  have  shown  how  utterly  incomplete  and  unsat- 
isfactory that  account  is,  not  rising  in  any  degree  to 
the  character  of  evidence. 

We  have  shown  that  the  Gospels  are  highly  dra- 
matic ;  that  the  Christ  is  largely  ideal ;  tliat  many 
other  persons  before  the  Christian  era  claimed  all  that 
was  claimed  for  Jesus ;  and  that  he,  his  conduct,  and 
alleged  sayings  (he  wrote  nothing)  are  widely  open  to 
criticism. 

We  have  shown  that  the  distinguishing  feature  of 
the  New  Testament — blood-salvation — is  not  a  special 
revelation,  but  that  it  has  been  borrowed  and  modified 
and  adapted  from  savages  and  from  the  most  ignorant 
and  superstitious  tribes ;  and  that  what  is  called  the 
"redemptive  scheme"  is  full  of  absurdities  and  contra- 
dictions, and  that  it  is  philosophically  and  naturally 
demoralizing  in  its  tendency  and  influence  if  its  logical 
consequences  are  accepted. 

We  now  come  to  the  practical  question.  What  have 
we  left  f  Is  there  anything  in  religion  worth  preserv- 
ing? Indeed,  is  there  anything  condemned  in  this 
book  that  is  essential  to  the  purest  religion  and  the 
highest  morality  ?     After  doubting  and  throwing  dis- 


416  SKELETON  KEYS.    " 

credit  on  so  much,  have  we  anything  left  worth  pre- 
serving ?  Having  cast  so  much  of  the  cargo  overboard 
to  lighten  the  ship,  is  the  vessel  worth  saving?  Hav- 
ing cast  away  the  accretions  and  superstitions  of  relig- 
ion, we  are  only  now  just  prepared  to  defend  its  essen- 
tial and  sublime  principles.  Let  us  see  what  remains. 
I.  Our  Faith  in  God  remains. — Not  a  God.  The 
passage  in  the  New  Testament  (John  4  :  24)  admits 
that  "  a  "  is  an  interpolation.  There  is  no  personality 
in  God  in  a  sense  which  implies  limitation.  God  is 
spint,  and  so  ^int  is  God.  Even  Professor  Haeckel, 
the  German  materialist,  says  :  "  This  monistic  idea  of 
God,  which  belongs  to  the  future,  has  already  been 
expressed  by  Bruno  in  the  following  words  :  '  A  spirit 
exists  in  all  things,  and  no  body  is  so  small  but  con- 
tains a  part  of  the  divine  substance  within  itself  by 
which  it  is  animated.' "  The  words  God  and  religion 
have  been  so  long  associated  with  superstition  and 
priestcraft  that  many  liberal  thinkers  have  a  repug- 
nance to  both.  But  we  must  not  let  these  perversions 
of  sacerdotalism  rob  us  of  good  words.  We  can  con- 
ceive of  God  as  the  Over-all  and  In-all  Spirit  of  the 
Universe.  That  spirit  is  causation,  and  matter,  its 
palpable  form,  is  one  of  its  manifestations.  We  know 
that  Nature's  method  of  making  worlds  and  brutes 
and  men  is  by  a  uniform  system  of  evolution,  taking 
millions  and  billions  of  years  to  carry  on  the  work  to 
the  present  time,  and  that  it  is  likely  that  it  will  take 
millions  more  to  perfect  it.  When  asked  what  spirii 
is,  we  answer,  We  do  not  know ;  neither  do  we  know 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  417 

what  electricity  is,  nor  can  we  answer  one  of  a  thou- 
sand questions  that  come  up  regarding  the  subtle  and 
occult  qualities  of  matter.  We  see  no  difference  be- 
tween the  Vnhnowahle  of  Herbert  Spencer  and  the 
Unsearchable  of  Zophar  in  the  book  of  Job.  The 
Unknown  Power  is  the  Noumenon,  the  absolute  Being 
in  itself,  the  inner  nature  of  force,  motion,  and  even  of 
conscience. 

We  have  said,  in  substance,  elsewhere :  It  is  a  great 
mistake  to  think  of  God  as  outside  of  and  distinct  from 
the  universe.  If  there  be  a  God  at  all,  he  is  in  the 
universe  and  in  every  part  of  it.  We  cannot  properly 
localize  him,  and  say  that  he  is  present  in  one  place 
and  not  in  another,  or  that  he  is  in  one  place  more  than 
another.  He  must  be  everywhere  and  in  everything. 
Anthropomorphic  (man-like)  views  of  God  are  what 
make  atheists  and  agnostics. 

Men  constantly  talk  of  the  laws  of  Nature,  forgetting 
that  law  itself  is  a  product  and  cannot  be  a  cause.  The 
law  of  gravitation  is  not  the  cause  of  gravitation.  A 
self-originating  and  self-executing  law  is  unthinkable. 
The  prevalence  of  law  supposes  the  existence  of  a  law- 
maker and  a  law-executor.  We  accept  the  law  of  evo- 
lution, but  cannot  conceive  of  evolution  independent 
of  involution  and  an  Evolver. 

It  may  be  said  that  this  is  "  begging  the  question  " 
by  assuming  the  existence  of  an  infinite  God.  But  we 
deny  that  it  is  an  assumption  in  its  last  analysis.  What 
is  known  as  the  scientific  method  leads  logically  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  must  be  something  that  theists 
27 


418  SKELETON  KEYS. 

generally  name  God.  You  may  call  it  "  protoplasm," 
"molecular  force/'  the  "potentiality  of  matter,"  or 
even  matter  itself;  and  when  you  tell  us  what  these 
words  mean  we  will  tell  you  what  we  mean  by  "  God." 
Possibly  we  all  mean  the  same  thing.  We  know  of 
the  existence  of  God,  as  we  know  other  things,  by 
palpable  manifestations. 

Astronomers  assumed  the  existence  of  Neptune  from 
certain  phenomena  long  before  its  existence  could  be 
demonstrated;  and  if  the  discovery  had  never  been 
made  the  phenomena  so  long  observed  would  have 
nevertheless  justified  the  conclusion  that  there  must  be 
some  stupendous  cause  for  such  unmistakable  and  mar- 
vellous perturbations. 

When  men  talk  of  the  eternity  of  matter  we  do  not 
even  profess  to  understand  them.  The  most  advanced 
scientists  do  not  attempt  to  explain  one  of  a  thousand 
mysteries  in  which  the  phenomena  of  the  material 
world  is  enshrouded.  Why,  then,  should  we  be  ex- 
pected to  explain  where  and  how  and  when  God  came 
into  existence,  or  how  he  could  have  had  an  eternal 
existence  or  be  self-existent  ?  We  affirm  no  more  of 
God  than  materialists  imply  of  matter,  and  we  endow 
him  with  no  attributes  that  they  do  not  virtually 
ascribe  to  matter.  So  far  as  assumption  is  concerned, 
both  stand  on  the  same  ground.  They,  indeed,  call 
things  by  different  names,  but  mean  about  the  same 
thing.  What  theists  prefer  to  call  "  the  works  of  God  " 
materialists  call  "Nature,"  "cosmic  laws,"  "spon- 
taneous generation,"  "  the  potency  of  matter,"  "  con- 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  419 

servation  of  energy,"  "  correlation  of  force,"  and  "  nat- 
ural selection," 

The  fundamental  error  of  modern  scientists  is  that 
they  limit  their  investigations  to  the  physical  and  pal- 
pable, while  we  have  demonstrable  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  the  spiritual  and  invisible.  We  know 
nothing  of  matter  but  from  its  properties  and  manifes- 
tations, and  we  have  the  same  kind  of  evidence  in  re- 
gard to  spirit,  and  know  that  it  is  superior  to  gross 
matter,  and  therefore  cannot  be  tested  by  the  same 
crucibles.  In  the  very  nature  of  things  a  great  cause 
must  ever  be  imponderable  and  invisible.  It  cannot 
be  weighed  and  measured,  but  must  ever  remain  in- 
tangible and  incomprehensible.  The  spirit  in  physical 
man  in  its  relation  to  the  Supreme  Spirit  is  as  the  drop 
of  water  to  the  ocean  or  the  single  glimmering  ray  to 
the  full-orbed,  refulgent  sun.  Men  may  talk  of  "  force 
correlation,"  and  trace  its  progress  and  products,  but 
they  must  remain  dumb  as  to  the  beginning  or  origin 
of  force  unless  they  accept  the  doctrine  of  an  intelligent 
First  Force.  There  is  no  way  of  accounting  for  the 
existence  of  spirit,  of  life,  of  intelligence,  but  by  pre- 
mising the  prior  existence  of  spirit,  life,  and  intelli- 
gence. Like  only  causes  like.  An  egg  does  not  come 
from  a  stone,  and  the  ascidian  did  not  come  from  a  life- 
less rock. 

The  logical  conclusion  from  the  facts  and  principles 
herein  suggested  is  that  there  must  be  an  intelligent 
First  Cause  of  all  things — an  all-pervading,  fecunda- 
ting, animating  Spirit  of  the  universe ;  and  we  prefer 


420  SKELETON  KEYS. 

to  call  this  God.  Science  has  taught  us  the  'processes 
of  his  work,  and  denominates  them  the  "  laws  of  Na- 
ture." In  point  of  fact,  as  little  is  known  of  the  origin 
and  essence  of  matter  as  of  spirit,  and  there  is  as  good 
ground  for  agnosticism  in  the  former  as  in  the  latter. 
There  is  therefore  no  necessary  conflict  between  true 
science  and  a  rational  theism  or  monism. 

It  is  a  rational  proposition  that  something  must  have 
been  before  what  is  called  creation.  There  must  have 
been  an  intelligent  potency,  and  that  power  theists  call 
God.  Materialism  in  its  last  analysis  ascribes  to  mat- 
ter all  that  theists  ascribe  to  God.  It  gives  matter  an 
eternal  self-existence — endows  it  with  an  inherent  in- 
finite intelligence  and  an  omnipotent  potency.  It 
spells  "God"  with  six  letters  instead  of  three.  It 
makes  a  God  of  matter,  and  then  denies  his  existence ! 

We  now  submit  that  it  is  more  rational  to  postulate 
the  existence  of  an  eternal  Supreme  Intelligence  and 
Power,  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  all  things  visible  and 
invisible,  who  is  the  Author  and  Executor  of  the  laws 
by  which  both  mind  and  matter  are  governed.  This 
Supreme  Being  is  alone  the  Self-existent  One,  and  what 
are  called  the  properties  and  modes  of  inert  matter  are 
but  the  proofs  and  manifestations  of  his  eternal  power 
and  G^head.  There  cannot  be  a  poem  without  a 
poet,  nor  a  picture  without  an  artist.  There  cannot 
be  a  watch  or  other  complex  machine  without  an  in- 
ventor and  artisan.  The  universe  is  the  sublimest  of 
all  poems,  and  Cicero  well  said  that  it  would  be  easier 
to  conceive  that  Homer's  Iliad  came  from  the  chance 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  421 

shaking  together  of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  than 
that  the  atoms  should  have  produced  the  cosmos  with- 
out a  marshalling  agency.  The  visible  and  palpable 
compel  us  to  acknowledge  their  counterpart  in  the  in- 
visible and  intangible,  and  we  cannot  rationally  account 
for  the  origin  of  man  without  postulating  the  existence 
of  an  Intelligence  and  Power  greater  than  humanity. 

We  are  reproached  for  the  inconsistency  of  believing 
in  a  Power  we  cannot  comprehend,  and  endowing  him 
with  attributes  of  which  we  can  form  no  just  concep- 
tions. Atheists  do  not  seem  to  realize  that  they  are 
guilty  of  a  greater  inconsistency.  They  tell  us  that 
we  believe  in  a  Being  of  whom  we  can  form  no  con- 
ception, but  they  themselves  must  form  some  concep- 
tion of  such  a  Being,  else  how  could  they  deny  his 
existence  ? 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  admitting  the  existence  of 
a  Supreme  Power  if  we  do  not  attempt  to  comprehend 
and  describe  it.  Matthew  Arnold  says :  "  We  too 
would  say  '  God '  if  the  moment  we  said  '  God '  you 
would  not  pretend  that  you  know  all  about  him."  His 
definition  of  God  is  indeed  vague,  but  vastly  suggestive  : 
"An  enduring  Power  not  ourselves  that  makes  for  rigld- 
eousness"  This  suggests  the  moral  element  in  the 
unknown  Power.  There  is  not  only  a  spiritual  sense 
in  man  which  recognizes  the  supersensuous,  but  there 
is  an  indwelling  witness  to  the  eternal  principle  of 
rightfulness.  The  sentiment  of  oughtness  is  inherent 
and  ineradicable.  Every  man  who  is  not  a  moral 
idiot  has  a  feeling  that  certain  things  ought  and  ought 


422  SKELETON  KEYS. 

not  to  De — ^that  there  is  an  essential  right  and  wrong. 
Human  intuition  sees  and  feels  this  mysterious  Power 
that  answers  to  our  Ego,  and  from  which  it  proceeds ; 
and  this  inward  conviction  cannot  be  eradicated  from 
the  average  mind  by  the  pretensions  of  science.  The 
patient  watcher  in  the  dark  room  at  the  terminus  of 
the  ocean  cable  sees  in  his  suspended  mirror  the  reflec- 
tion of  an  electric  spark,  and  he  at  once  recognizes  it 
as  a  message  from  the  operator  three  thousand  miles 
away.  So  God  is  seen  by  the  aspiring  and  contem- 
plative in  the  concave  mirror  of  man's  own  spirit,  and, 
though  it  is  a  mere  reflection,  a  spark,  a  flash,  it  clear- 
ly proves  the  existence  of  the  Central  Magnet.  It  is 
this  recognition  of  the  moral  element  that  forms  the 
basis  of  moral  government  and  of  that  woi'shipfulness 
which  has  manifested  itself  among  all  nations,  bar- 
barian and  civilized. 

It  is  safe  to  assume  that  the  average  Atheism  is  dis- 
belief in  the  God  of  the  dominant  theology,  and  not  in 
the  Uliimate  Power  that  makes  for  righteousness.  Vul- 
gar, anthropomorphic  conceptions  of  God,  wliich  endow 
him  with  certain  speculative  attributes,  are  condemned 
by  reason  and  science;  but  nevertheless  phenomena 
have  something  behind  them,  and  energy  has  something 
beneath  it,  and  all  things  have  something  in  them  which 
is  the  source  of  all  phenomena  and  energy ;  and  this 
enduring,  all-pervading  Power  is  our  sure  guarantee 
of  the  order  of  the  universe.  And  this  Power  theists 
persist  in  calling  God.  Theologians  may  call  this 
Pantheism,  but  it  is  only  seemingly  so.     There  is  a 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  423 

vast  difference  between  saying  that  everything  is  God, 
and  that  God  is  in  everything.  The  old  watchmaker- 
mechanician  idea,  a  God  separate  and  outside  of  the 
universe,  has  become  obsolete,  and  science  and  reason 
and  the  law  of  progressive  development  now  compel 
men  to  reshape  their  conceptions  of  God  as  identical 
with  the  Cosmos,  plus  the  Eternal  Power. 

Herbert  Spencer  has  beautifully  said :  "  But  amid 
the  mysteries,  which  become  the  more  mysterious  the 
more  they  are  thought  about,  there  will  remain  the 
one  absolute  certainty  that  man  is  ever  in  presence  of 
an  Infinite  and  Eternal  Energy,  from  which  all  things 
proceed."  The  felt  and  the  seen  have  their  fulness  in 
the  unseen  and  intangible,  and  the  visible  impels  us  to 
seek  its  counterpart  and  complement  in  the  invisible. 

II.  Our  Faith  in  Religion  7'emains. — And  here  the 
question  comes  up.  What  is  religion  ?  The  commonly- 
accepted  meaning  of  the  word  is  as  derived  from  the 
Latin  religare,  which  means  "  to  bind  back  or  to  bind 
fast."  We  do  not  accept  the  definition,  because  it  is 
suggestive  of  bondage.  It  implies  a  previous  harmo- 
nious relation  with  God  which  had  been  lost.  It  favors 
the  dogmas  of  the  fall  of  Adam  and  man's  alleged  rein- 
statement and  "  binding  back  "  to  the  divine  allegiance, 
through  what  is  called,  in  theological  parlance,  a  "  re- 
demptive scheme."  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  Lao- 
tantius,  a  theologian  of  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, was  the  first  to  apply  the  word  religion  to  "  the 
bond  of  piety  by  which  we  are  bound  to  God."  Au- 
gustine of  the  fifth  century  followed  his  example,  and  so 


424  SKELETON  KEYS. 

did  Servius  about  the  same  time ;  and  their  example  has 
been  followed  by  theologians  ever  since,  presumably 
because  it  favors  the  dogmas  of  the  fall  of  Adam  and 
the  redemption  by  Christ.  But  the  highest  classical 
authorities  derive  the  word  religion  from  rdegere  or 
rdigere,  signifying  "  to  go  through  or  over  and  over 
again  in  reading,  speech,  or  thought — to  review  care- 
fully and  faithfully  to  ponder  and  reflect  with  con- 
scientious fidelity." 

Cicero  must  have  understood  the  original  meaning 
and  origin  of  the  Latin  word,  and  he  took  this  view 
of  the  subject.  He  lived  more  than  three  hundred 
years  before  Lactantius,  and  he  said :  "  But  they  who 
carefully  meditated,  and  as  it  were  considered  and  re- 
considered all  those  things  which  pertained  to  the  wor- 
ship of  the  gods,  were  called  religious,  from  religere." 
The  word  religio  was  in  common  use  in  ancient  Rome 
in  the  sense  of  scruple,  implying  the  consciousness  of 
a  natural  obligation  wholly  irrespective  of  the  gods. 
The  oldest  popular  meanings  of  the  word  religion  were 
faithfulness,  sincerity,  veracity,  honor,  punctiliousness, 
and  conscientiousness.*  Religion,  then,  in  its  true 
meaning,  is  the  great  fact  of  duty,  of  oughtness  or  right- 
fulness, of  conscience  and  moral  sense.  Its  great  busi- 
ness is  to  seek  conformity  to  one's  highest  ideal.  It 
consists  in  an  honest  and  persistent  effort  by  all  appro- 
priate means  to  realize  ideal  excellence  and  to  trans- 
form into  actual  character  and  practical  life. 

Religion  in  this  sense  is  universally  approved.  It 
*  See  A  Study  of  Religion,  by  Francis  E.  Abbot. 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  425 

is  false  religion  which  is  condemned.  It  is  what  some 
men  would  require  you  to  believe  in  spite  of  history, 
science,  and  self-consciousness.  It  is  superstition,  big- 
otry, credulity,  creed,  sectarianism,  that  men  detest. 
Religion  is  innate  and  ineradicable  in  man,  and  there 
is  a  natural  religion  concerning  which  man  cannot  be 
skeptical  if  he  would.  Bishop  Butler  has  well  said 
that  the  niorality  of  the  gospel  is  "  the  republication 
of  natural  religion ;"  and  it  would  be  easy  to  show  the 
evolidion  of  religion  from  very  small  beginnings  and 
how  this  work  is  going  on  to-day. 

Regarding  religion  as  an  evolution,  a  development, 
and  not  as  something  as  injflexible  as  a  demonstrated 
proposition  in  mathematics,  we  are  all  the  while  ex- 
pecting an  improvement.  We  have  a  right  to  expect 
that  Christianity  should  be  better  tlian  more  ancient 
religions,  because  it  is  the  latest ;  and  so  it  is  in  many 
respects.  But  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  this  im- 
provement will  go  on  with  the  lapse  of  time.  The 
religion  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  an  improvement 
on  the  religion  of  the  first  century,  but  we  are  reach- 
ing forward  to  greater  perfection.  Even  the  system 
of  morals  taught  in  the  New  Testament  is  defective. 
We  want  something  purer  and  better,  and  it  is  rapidly 
coming.  All  true  religion  is  natural,  and  its  morality 
relates  to  the  mutual  and  reciprocal  claims  of  men 
arising  from  organized  society.  If  we  are  riglit  in  our 
dealings  with  our  fellow-men,  we  cannot  be  out  of  har- 
monious relations  with  God.  All  happiness  here  and 
hereafter  depends  upon  our  knowledge  of  the  order  of 


426  SKELETON  KEYS. 

the  universe  and  the  conformaiion  of  our  lives  to  it.  It 
is  impossible  to  divorce  true  religion  from  real  science, 
and  the  more  we  know  of  the  latter  the  more  we  shall 
have  of  the  former.  Whatever  tends  to  promote  pure 
religion  ought  to  be  encouraged,  and  no  man  has  any 
more  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  his  religion  than  he  has 
to  be  ashamed  of  his  appetite.  We  sum  up  our  ideas 
of  religion  by  saying :  Do  all  the  good  you  can  to  all 
the  persons  you  can  by  all  the  means  you  can,  and  as 
long  as  you  can. 

III.  The  Scriptures  remain  for  just  What  they  are. 
— Portions  of  the  Bible  command  our  most  profound 
reverence  and  our  most  unqualified  admiration.  We 
respond  heartily  to  some  of  the  truly  excellent  moral 
maxims  of  the  Bible,  and  read  with  rapture  some  of 
the  selections  of  poetry  from  the  Hebrew  prophets. 
But  right  in  close  connection  we  often  find  stories 
of  uncleanness,  fornications,  adulteries,  and  incests  that 
the  vilest  newspaper  of  to-day  would  not  dare  publish. 
Jael  meanly  murders  Sisera,  and  is  praised  for  it,  while 
the  deceit  and  treachery  of  Rahab  are  commended  in 
the  New  Testament.  The  story  of  Boaz  and  Ruth  is 
only  fit  for  a  dime  novel.  Solomon's  Song  is  full  of 
lasciviousness.  Abram  lies.  Moses  gets  mad.  David 
commits  adultery  and  murders  Uriah.  Jacob  is  de- 
ceitful and  a  trickster ;  and  so  on  to  the  end.  Polyg- 
amy is  shown  to  have  been  the  rule,  and  not  the  ex- 
ception, among  Jehovah's  favorites.  War  is  everywhere 
tacitly  justified,  and  slavery  is  practised  and  not  an 
abolitionist  opens  his  mouth.     We  go  to  the  New  Tes- 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  427 

tament,  and  He  who  is  called  the  "  Perfect  Odc  "  curses 
a  fig  tree  for  not  bearing  fruit  out  of  season,  drives  out 
■v^ith  small  cords  men  engaged  in  legitimate  business, 
upsets  their  tables,  and  uses  the  most  violent  and  re- 
proachful language  toward  them.  He  shows  want  of 
respect  for  his  mother,  and  is  ambiguous  and  evasive 
in  his  conversation  with  the  woman  of  Canaan — says 
he  does  not  know  whether  he  is  going  to  the  feast  at 
Jerusalem  or  not,  and  then  straightway  sets  out  for  the 
Holy  City,  and  makes  believe  by  his  actions  that  he 
is  going  to  one  place,  when  he  is  actually  going  to 
another. 

We  want  a  higher  morality  than  is  taught  in  the 
Bible.  We  want  higher  and  more  noble  conceptions 
than  are  given  in  the  parable  of  the  "  Unjust  Judge," 
and  more  just  and  equitable  principles  than  are  taught 
in  the  parable  of  the  "Unjust  Steward"  or  the  "La- 
borers in  the  Vineyard  "  or  the  "  Ten  Talents."  We 
want  a  morality  that  relates  to  this  life  rather  than  to 
the  next.  We  do  not  want  the  possession  of  property 
held  up  as  a  crime,  and  poverty  represented  as  a  virtue 
entitling  one  to  a  seat  in  the  future  kingdom.  We 
want  good  homes  to  live  in  now,  rather  than  "  man- 
sions in  the  skies."  We  do  not  want  a  morality  that 
appeals  to  selfishness  only,  that  discriminates  in  favor 
of  celibacy,  and  that  only  tolerates  marriage  as  a  rem- 
edy for  lust,  as  taught  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  First 
Corinthians.  We  want  a  higher  morality  than  the 
morality  of  even  the  New  Testament. 

It  is  difficult  to  speak  to  ears  polite  of  the  obscenity 


428  SKELETON  KEYS. 

of  the  Bible.  There  are  more  than  one  hundred  pas- 
sages of  the  most  coarse  and  vulgar  description.  To 
print  these  in  a  book  and  send  it  through  the  United 
States  mails,  if  law  were  impartially  administered,  would 
put  a  man  in  the  penitentiary.  There  are  entire  chap- 
ters that  reek  with  obscenity  from  beginning  to  end. 
We  cannot  tell  you  about  Onan,  and  Taraar,  and  Lot 
and  his  two  daughters,  and  scores  of  other  obscene 
matters.  There  are  passages  even  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment that  cannot  be  mentioned  in  the  presence  of  a  vir- 
tuous woman.  When  we  enter  a  lady's  parlor  and  see 
the  richly-gilded  Bible  upon  the  centre-table,  we  shud- 
der as  we  remember  the  obscenity  that  is  contained 
between  its  costly  lids.  When  we  see  a  young  girl 
tripping  along  our  streets,  Bible  in  hand,  we  wonder 
if  she  knows  that  she  carries  more  obscenity  than  By- 
ron ever  wrote,  than  Shelley  ever  dreamed  of,  than  the 
vilest  French  novelist  ever  dared  to  print. 

We  have  very  grave  doubts  about  putting  the  Bible 
into  the  hands  of  children.  They  are,  through  it,  made 
familiar  with  much  that  is  demoralizing.  We  have 
many  reasons  for  rejecting  the  dogma  of  the  plenary 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  their  infallibility. 
These  fragmentary  writings  must  be  judged  by  their 
merits — by  what  they  are.  It  has  been  shown  by  the 
author  of  Supernatural  Religion  that  we  gain  more 
than  we  lose  by  taking  this  rational  view  of  the  Bible. 
An  illusion  is  lost,  but  a  reality  is  gained  which  is  full 
of  hope  and  peace.  The  unknown  men  who  mostly 
wrote  the  little  pamphlets  which  make  up  the  Bible 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  429 

probably  did  the  best  they  knew — that  is,  they  wrote 
according  to  the  degree  of  their  development — but  some 
of  the  writers  were  on  a  very  low  plane.  We  should 
read  these  books  and  all  other  sacred  writings  of  all 
nations  just  as  we  study  geology — as  showing  what 
was  in  the  mind  of  man  when  the  books  were  written, 
just  as  we  learn  from  the  earth's  strata  the  history  and 
order  of  the  various  periodic  formations.  The  bibles 
of  the  ages  are  accessible  to  every  man  who  can  read. 
All  of  them  contain  much  that  is  valuable,  with  much 
that  is  frivolous,  superstitious,  and  false.  But  these 
books  belong  to  our  race,  and  happy  is  the  man  who 
knows  how  to  use  them  wisely.  He  who  rejects  all 
makes  as  great  a  mistake  as  he  who  accepts  all.  The 
true  position  is  that  the  Bible  contains  the  best  thoughts 
of  many  of  the  best  men  that  have  lived  in  the  ages  of 
the  past,  expressed  according  to  their  light ;  and,  while 
their  obvious  errors  should  be  rejected,  whatever  com- 
mends itself  to  our  reason,  according  to  the  best  light 
of  to-day,  and  to  which  each  man's  own  inspiration 
and  spiritual  discernment  responds,  should  be  rever- 
ently studied  and  highly  esteemed.  Religion  is  not  a 
product  of  the  Bible,  but  the  Bible  is  a  product  of  re- 
ligion— natural  religion — though  often  misunderstood 
and  perverted.  We  do  not  throw  aside  the  bibles,  but 
accept  them  for  just  what  we  find  them  to  be  worth. 
We  eat  the  kernel  and  throw  away  the  shell. 

IV.  Our  most  Implicit  Faith  in  the  Continuity  of 
lAfe  remains. — We  have  no  more  confidence  in  Mate- 
rialism than  we  have  in  Atheism.     We  believe  that 


430  SKELETON  KEYS. 

some  men  at  least  are  immortal — ^that  the  intellectual 
and  moral  giants  should  be  blotted  out  at  death  is  un- 
thinkable. We  find  in  this  doctrine  of  a  future  state 
much  that  has  a  moral  tendency.  It  inspires  self- 
respect  and  esteem.  It  leads  to  a  proper  appreciation 
of  humanity.  It  inspires  hope  for  the  future.  It 
affords  comfort  in  bereavement.  It  furnishes  a  proper 
motive  for  aspiration  and  progress. 

When  we  consider  the  millions  of  years  that  have 
been  employed  in  bringing  man  to  his  present  high 
estate,  it  is  rational  to  assume  that  a  capacity  for  such 
immense  progress  is  good  ground  for  faith  in  still 
greater  progress,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  end  to  the 
advancement  and  attainments  of  humanity.  If  prim- 
itive man  was  not  immortal,  there  may  have  been  a 
time  when  he  became  immortal,  just  as  there  is  a  time 
when  the  embryo  becomes  a  conscious,  breathing  babe, 
and  when  the  undeveloped  child  begins  to  exercise  the 
functions  of  rationality  and  becomes  an  accountable 
being.  It  is  not  true  that  even  the  extreme  Darwinian 
doctrine  is  necessarily  opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  a 
future  life  for  man.  On  the  contrary,  its  fundamental 
principles  suggest  the  hypothesis  of  immortality. 

If  the  "  conservation  of  energy  "  is  a  true  principle 
of  science,  it  favors  the  faith  of  man  in  the  doctrine  of 
a  future  life.  Greatness  and  goodness  developed  in 
man  must  be  "  conserved,"  and  how  can  it  be  done  if 
death  is  a  destroyer  ?  The  "  persistency  of  force  "  in 
the  human  personality  must  at  least  be  equal  to  the 
primary  elements  which  environ  that  personality.     Is 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  431 

it  rational  to  suppose  that  the  sweep  of  evolution  which 
has  brought  man  from  such  unfathomable  depths  will 
not  carry  him  up  to  still  more  illimitable  heights? 
Are  these  vast  achievements  of  Nature  to  be  so  un- 
thriftily  wasted  ?  Do  not  the  products  of  a  past  eter- 
nity point  unmistakably  to  still  greater  things  in  an 
eternity  to  come? 

And,  then,  does  not  the  scientific  doctrine  of  the 
"  indestructibility  of  matter  "  favor  the  belief  in  life 
after  death? 

The  theory  of  "  natural  selection "  also  favors  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  life,  and  never  appears  so  real  and 
so  beautiful  as  when  we  realize  that  as  man  progresses 
in  everything  that  is  grand  and  good  he  voluntarily 
falls  in  with  this  natural  law,  and  of  choice  not  only 
selects  that  which  is  most  to  be  desired,  but  by  self- 
denial  and  almost  superhuman  exertions  strives  to 
attain  the  highest  ideal  of  his  heavenly  aspirations. 
The  unwearied  effort  of  the  most  highly-developed 
men  to  reach  a  higher  perfection  and  a  more  exalted 
excellence  is  evidence  that  Nature  is  true  to  herself, 
and  that  man  will  not  be  blotted  out  of  conscious  ex- 
istence just  as  he  first  clearly  perceives  the  essential 
difference  between  good  and  evil.  Having  tasted  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  life,  he  is  destined  to  live  for  ever. 

It  is  certainly  a  significant  fact  that  the  faith  of  man 
in,  and  a  desire  for,  a  future  life  are  strongest  in  his 
moments  of  greatest  mental  and  spiritual  exaltation. 
If  this  is  an  illusion,  it  is  strange  that  it  should  be 
particularly  vivid  when  he  is  in  his  most  god-like 


432  SKELETON  KEYS. 

moods  and  when  he  is  most  in  love  with  the  beautiful, 
the  true,  and  the  good.  Is  it  possible  for  Nature  to 
thus  trifle  with  and  deceive  and  disappoint  man  when 
he  is  most  serious  and  truthful,  and  when  all  the 
elements  of  his  better  nature  are  in  the  ascendant  and 
predominate  over  everything  that  is  gross  and  perish- 
able? 

A  future  life  and  an  immortal  one  must  exist  to 
enable  man  to  reach  that  perfection  to  which  he  aspires, 
and  feels  himself  bound  to  attain  as  the  only  end  wor- 
thy of  his  being,  and  which,  during  the  brief  span  of 
mortal  life,  is  never  reached  even  by  the  most  virtu- 
ous. Nature  cannot  be  so  blind,  so  stupidly  improv- 
ident, as  to  throw  away  her  most  precious  treasures, 
gathered  by  so  much  labor  and  suffering,  and  not  per- 
mit man  to  carry  forward  the  great  work,  in  which  he 
has  just  began  to  succeed,  to  that  perfection  to  which 
all  his  aspirations  unmistakably  converge. 

Then  every  cultivated  man  realizes  as  age  increases 
that  his  attainments  and  successes  in  this  ephemeral 
life  fall  far  short  of,  and  are  absolutely  inadequate 
and  disproportionate  to,  his  inherent  powers;  and  it 
is  irrational  to  conclude  that  his  very  existence  is  to  be 
blotted  out  and  life  itself  become  utterly  extinct  just  as 
he  has  learned  how  to  live,  and  what  life  is,  and  what 
is  his  "  being's  end  and  aim."  We  do  not  desire  to 
argue  this  question  here :  we  only  make  a  profession 
of  our  faith. 

V.  Our  Faith  in  the  Doctrine  of  Present  and  Fu- 
ture Rewards  and  Punishments  remains. — While  it  is 


THINGS  THAT  BEMAJN.  433 

irrational  to  accept  the  horrible  dogmas  of  sacerdotal- 
ism as  to  the  eternal  torments  of  the  wicked,  it  is 
equally  unreasonable  to  believe  that  all  men  enter 
upon  a  state  of  perfect  happiness  without  regard  to 
moral  character. 

The  doctrine  of  rewards  and  punishments  after  death 
is  clearly  suggested  by  the  principles  of  natural  relig- 
ion which  have  been  recognized  by  all  men,  pagan  and 
Christian.  That  virtue  brings  its  own  reward  and 
vice  its  own  punishment  is  a  fact  in  the  experience  of 
men  in  this  life.  It  must  be  so  in  the  life  to  come,  as 
the  order  of  the  universe  cannot  be  changed  by  time  or 
place.  No  valid  objection  can  be  made  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  future  pimishment.  But  its  nature  and  object 
must  be  taken  into  the  account.  True  punishment  is 
never  arbitrary  nor  vindictive.  It  is  remedial,  reform- 
atory, disciplinary,  and  has  respect  to  the  constitution 
of  moral  government  and  the  best  interests  and  welfare 
of  its  subjects.  Suffering  is  a  consequence  of  sin,  not  a 
judicial  penalty,  and  happiness  is  not  a  favor  conferred 
by  grace,  but  a  legitimate  jproduct  of  right  being  rather 
than  of  right  doing.  Men  are  rewarded  or  punished, 
both  in  this  life  and  the  life  to  come,  not  so  much  for 
what  they  have  done  or  not  done  as  for  what  they  are. 
Suffering  is  intended  to  put  an  end  to  that  which  causes 
suffering,  and  is  for  the  good  of  the  sufferer.  In  this 
world  and  in  all  possible  worlds  sin  must  be  a  source 
of  suffering,  and  goodness  a  fountain  of  happiness. 
The  degree  of  happiness  or  misery  of  man  after  death 
must  be  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  his  perfection  or 

28 


434  SKELETON  KEYS. 

imperfection  in  character  evolved  during  life  that  will 
constitute  his  "  meetnass." 

The  same  penal  code  must  prevail  in  the  next  life 
that  prevails  here,  and  it  may  be  thus  summarized : 
(1)  Suffering  is  a  consequence  of  imperfection  and 
wrong-doing.  (2)  Imperfection  and  wrong-doing  will 
meet  their  appropriate  punishment  in  the  future  life  as 
in  this  world.  (3)  The  efiPect  will  only  continue  so 
long  as  the  cause  exists.  (4)  Men  will  for  ever  make 
their  own  heaven  or  hell,  and  there  is  good  reason  for 
believing  that  the  sufferings  of  many  persons  after 
death  will  be,  beyond  all  conception,  awful  in  the  ex- 
treme. (5)  But  the  "immortal  hope"  justifies  the 
conclusion  that  all  men  will,  sooner  or  later,  be  es- 
tablished in  holiness  and  happiness. 

In  response  to  the  question.  After  death — what  f  the 
proper  answer  to  the  interrogative  is.  In  life — whotf 
Death  is  transition,  not  transmutation.  It  is  emigra- 
tion, not  Pythagorean  transmigration.  Change  of 
place  does  not  make  change  of  character.  It  is  there- 
fore reasonable  to  conclude  that  a  man  afler  death  is 
just  what  he  was  before  death.  Every  man  will 
gravitate  to  his  own  place.  There  will  be  as  many 
grades  of  moral  character  afler  death  as  in  this  life, 
and  therefore  as  many  heavens  and  hells.  Misers  and 
drunkards  and  libertines  will  still  be  such.  Those 
who  love  the  pure  and  beautiful,  the  true,  the  right, 
the  unselfish,  and  the  humane  will  still  have  the  same 
desires  and  tastes  after  death  as  before  death,  and  will 
naturally  gravitate  to  kindred  spirits. 


THINGS  THAT  REMAIN.  435 

After  mature  reflection  the  conclusion  musi  be  reach- 
ed that  the  greatest  happiness  of  which  man  is  capable 
arises  from  three  sources :  (1)  The  perception  of  new 
truth ;  (2)  Its  impartation  to  others ;  (3)  Doing  good 
to  others.  A  more  rational  conception  of  future  bless- 
edness than  this  is  impossible. 

If  these  views  are  correct,  it  is  the  highest  wisdom 
to  cherish  and  cultivate  on  earth  and  during  life  the 
tastes,  the  desires,  the  affections,  the  principles  which 
in  themselves  constitute  the  highest  bliss  of  saints  and 
angels  in  all  possible  worlds.  And  as  to  hell  after 
death,  we  have  nothing  to  fear  but  the  hell  we  may 
cany  with  us — the  hell  of  unholy  lust,  the  hell  of  un- 
sanctified  passion,  the  hell  of  selfishness,  the  hell  which 
follows  wrong  living  and  wrong  doing. 

But  we  must  bring  this  book  to  a  close.  The  writer 
is  a  firm  believer  in  God,  in  religion,  and  in  morality ; 
he  accepts  the  Bible  for  just  what  it  is.  He  believes 
in  the  continuity  of  life  after  death  and  in  future  re- 
wards and  punishments.  If  he  believed  that  he  had 
written  anything  in  this  book  to  weaken  faith  in  these 
doctrines,  he  would  commit  the  manuscript  to  the 
flames  instead  of  to  the  printer. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Abraham  a  myth,  149. 
and  his  servant,  131. 
and  phallic  emblems,  131. 
and  Saturn,  150. 
ofiFering  Isaac — Parallels,  151- 
154. 
Abrahamic  Covenant,  155. 
Abydos    and    Bunsen's   Egyptian 

tables,  96. 
Adams,  Dr.,  on  forty-two  children 
and  the  she-bears,  162. 
Capt.  R.  C,  how  to  dispense 
with  ministers,  40. 
Admission  of  Albertus,  180. 
of  Ambrose,  179. 
of  Augustine,  321. 
of  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  364. 
of  Tertullian,  179. 
Alexandria,    systems    of    religion 

prevalent  in,  347. 
Anno  Domini,  invented  in  the  sixth 
century,  generally  adopt- 
ed in  the  tenth,  299. 
Aristotle,  maxims  of,  disapproved, 

24. 
Arnold,  Matthew,  his  definition  of 

God,  421. 
Assyrian  cuneiform  tablets,  discov- 
ery 1873-74,  97. 
Athens  and  Sparta,  date  1550  B.C., 

108. 
Avatars,  all  announced  by  celestial 
signs,  309-312. 

B. 

Bagster's  Comprehensive  Bible  on 
the  phallic  oath,  132. 


Barlow  on  tree-worship,  125. 
Beatty,  Hon.  James,  his  opposition 

to  salaried  ministers,  40. 
Berosus  on  Chaldean  history,  98. 
Blackstone  on  witches,  118. 
Blauvelt,  Dr.  A.,  16,  17. 
British  Museum,  manuscripts,  74. 
Brooks,  Bishop,  on  insincerity  in 

the  pulpit,  43. 
Brotherhood  of  man,  342,  343. 
Buckland  on  May  music  in  Mag- 
dalen Church,  137. 
Buddha,    died    477    years    before 

Christ,  104. 
Budge,  Dr.,  manuscripts  classified 

by,  75. 
Burnet,  Bishop,  on  the  story  of  the 

creation,  146. 
Dr.,  on  concealing  the  truth,  44. 
Burr,  W.  H.,  on  area  of  Palestine 

and  its  population,  63-70. 

C. 

Cardinal  Cajetan's  admission,  178. 

Chaldean  history,  date  of,  109. 

Child,  Lydia  Maria,  and  women  at 
Ocean  Grove,  136. 

Christ,  doubts  as  to  his  existence, 
367-369. 

Christus  and  Christianus,  evidence 
of  modern  fabrication,  207. 

Chrysostom  on  the  25th  of  Decem- 
ber, 243. 

Cicero  on  symbolism,  122. 

Cicero's  definition  of  religion,  12, 
424. 

Circamcision  originated  in  phallic- 
ism,  more  ancient  than 
Judaism,  130. 

437 


438 


INDEX. 


Clark,  Dr.  Adam,  points  out  thirty- 
five  parallels  to  Philo  in 
John's  Gospels,  219. 

Clement,  admission  of,  179. 

Colenso,  Bishop,  collates  from  Pen- 
tateuch, 85. 

Confucius's  Golden  Rule,  22, 

Constantino  a  pagan  priest,  29. 

Cross  very  ancient,  318. 

D. 

David's  nude  dance,  132. 

Davidson,  Prof.,  on  "  Catholic 
canon,"  227. 

Deluge,  The,  Jews  obtained  the  ac- 
count from  Babylon,  156. 

DoketaB,  266. 

Draper  on  Pentateuch,  103. 

Driver,  Prof.,  and  Philadelphia 
editor,  155. 

E. 

Edwards,  Miss  Amelia  B.,  on  date 
of  Egyptian  monarchy,  96. 

Elisha  and  she-bears  explained, 
162. 

Epistles,  silence  of,  concerning  the 
Gospels,  372. 

Essenes   existed  before  Christian- 
ity, 230. 
identical  with  Mithraism,  232. 
profound  regard  for  the  sun, 
239. 

Eusebius  regarded  the  Essenes  as 
Christians,  229. 

Eusebius's  History  a  probable  for- 
gery, 206. 

F. 

Farrar,  Canon,  on  priestcraft,  48. 
Fisher,  Prof.,  on  decline  of  clerical 

authority,  42. 
Fisk,  John,  on  glacial  period,  95. 
Forlong,  Gen.,  on  Jews,  65. 

on  area  of  Judea  and  Samaria, 

69. 


Forlong,  Gen.,  on  prevalence  of 
phallicism,  130, 133. 
on  the  fall,  170. 


6. 

Gnosticism,  355-362. 

Gnostics,  what  they  held,  267. 
Gerald  Massey  on,  280-294. 
Gibbon  on,  294. 

Golden  Rule  used  by  Confucius, 
Isocrates,  Aristotle,  Six- 
tus,  Pittacus,  Thales,  from 
three  to  six  centuries  be- 
fore Christ,  327. 

Gospel  in  the  Stars,  144,  145. 

Grecian  Argos,  date  of,  108. 

Gregory  on  ignorance  and  devo- 
tion,  44. 


H. 

Hale,  Dr.,  on  insincerity  in  the 

pulpit,  42. 
Sir     Matthew,     condemns     a 

witch  to  death,  118. 
Harmonies  of  the  Gospels,  347. 
Herod  died  before  Jesus  was  bom, 

315. 
Heyne  on  myths  and  philosophy, 

123. 
Hindoo  laws  quoted,  105-108. 
Hirsch,  Rabbi,  on  Pentateuch,  119, 

120. 
Holmes,  0.  W.,  Rector  and  Doctor, 

25. 
Huxley  on   clerical   opposition   to 

progress,  48. 
on  the  deluge,  157,  158. 
on  the  fall,  187,  188. 


I. 

I  H  S,  numerals  which  stand  for 
608,  explained,  298. 

Tnman,  Dr.,  on  Adam  and  Eve,  169. 

Irenaeus  the  real  founder  of  the 
Roman  hierarchy,  220. 


INDEX. 


439 


J. 

Jacob  and  Joseph,  121. 

Jefiferson  to  Pickering,  46. 
to  Dr.  Cooper,  47. 

.Teoud,  son  of  Saturn,  origin  of  the 
name  of  Jew,  150. 

Jesus,  Essenism  personified,  264. 

Jesuses,  many,  197. 

Jews,  mongrels,  54. 
origin  of,  55. 
real  cause  of  exodus,  78. 

John's  Gospel  first  mentioned  by 
Theophilus  of  Antioch  in 
A.  D,  176,  219. 

Johnson,  Rev.  Samuel,  on  the  ideal 
Christ,  276-281 ;  also  305, 
306,  323,  324. 

Jonah  and  the  fish,  with  its  paral- 
lel myths,  159. 

Jones,  Sir  William,  on  antiquity 
of  the  Vedas,  105. 

Josephus,  forgery  of  passages  re- 
lating to  Jesus,  numerous 
authorities    quoted,    200- 
203. 
joins  the  Essenes,  229. 
on  the  "  burning  bush,"  126. 

Joshua,  and  the  sun  standing  still, 
162. 

Justinian  Code,  origin  of,  105. 


K. 

Kaffirs    celebrate    the    catamenial 

period,  381. 
Keys   of  Peter,   an  interpolation, 

246. 
Knight,   Richard  Payne,   on    the 

"  Worship    of    Priapus," 

130. 


L. 

Lactantius,  admissions  of,  323. 
Lardner,  Dr.,  on  deceit,  44. 

admissions  of,  177. 

concerning  fall,  173. 
Lenormant's  admission,  98. 


Le  Renouf  on  origin  of  Egyptian 

civilization,  104. 
Lesley,  Prof.,  on  phallicism,  131. 
Lord's  Prayer  very  ancient,  327. 
Luther  on  Copernicus,  144. 
Lyell  on  delta  of  Mississippi,  95. 

M. 

MahafFy,  Prof.,  on  the  identity  of 
the  Egyptian  and  Chris- 
tian religions,  321,  322. 

Manetheo  on  date  of  Egyptian 
monarchy,  97. 

Manning,  Archbishop,  consecration 
of,  suggestive,  133. 

Manu,  laws  of  2680  slocaa,  104, 
105. 

Maomonides,  admission  as  to  the 
fall  being  allegorical,  178. 

Marius,  story  of,  24. 

Martyr^s,  Justin,  comparison  of 
Christianity  and  other  re- 
ligions, 319-321. 

Massey  on  the  ideal   Christ,  284, 
288. 
on  symbolism,  123. 

Matthew,  Gospel  of,  written  in  He- 
brew according  to  Irenae- 
us,  Origen,  and  Jerome, 
217. 

Menes,  date  of  reign,  96. 

Merrell,  Rev.  Geo.  E.,  gap  of  three 
centuries  in  MSS.,  212. 

Miller,  Dr.,  on  examination  of  min- 
isters, 33. 

Milman  on  deceit,  44. 

Mitchell,  Prof.,  on  mummy  coffin, 
143. 

Mithraism,  its  prevalence,  233, 
238. 

Moses,  strange  coincidences  in  the 
life  of,  109-112. 
a  myth ;  horns,  147. 
and  the  Midianites  and  witches, 
115,  118. 

Mosheim  on  deceit,  43. 

MSS.,  date  of,  213. 

Miiller,  Max,  on  dates,  104. 

Mutilation,  bodily,  335. 


440 


INDEX, 


N. 

Neander's  concession,  308. 

Neo-Platonists,  what  they  tanght, 
237. 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  what  he  per- 
ceived, 238. 

Nineveh  not  three  days'  journey 
from  the  coast,  159. 

Noah  and  the  deluge ;  Chaldean 
and  other  nations,  156. 

O. 

Origen  on  the  fall,  178. 
Orphic  and  other  dramas,  235. 
Oswald,  Dr.  Felix  L.,  quoted,  336. 
Oxley,  William,  accounts  of  Jesus 
from    Egyptian     sources, 
296. 
concerning     Egyptian    statu- 
ettes, 296,  301. 
on  the  Jews,  79. 

P. 

Pagan  contemporaneous  with  Je- 
sus ;  authorities  quoted, 
204. 

Papius  and  Polycarp,  not  instruct- 
ed by  John  the  son  of 
Zebedee,  but  probably  by 
John,  a  Presbyter  of  Asia 
Minor,  219. 

Paul's  genuine  Epistles,  214,  215. 

Paxson,  Chief-Justice,  open  letter 
to,  121. 

Peck,  Bishop,  on  blood,  277. 

Pentateuch,  date  of,  97,  98,  100, 
101. 

Peter's  name  of  Chaldaic  origin, 
248. 

Phallicism  not  necessarily  obscene, 
129,  135. 

Philo,  admission  of,  178. 

Phoenicians,  date  of,  109. 

Plato  on  Homer's  poems,  122. 

Presbyterian  serpent  symbolism, 
128. 

Proclus  on  Plato,  122. 

Prometheus,  the  god-man,  303. 


R. 

Rachel  sitting  on  the  wedges,  132. 

Rameses  II.,  Pharaoh  of  the  cap- 
tivity, 96. 

Reber  exposes  a  fraud,  220. 

Religion,  definition  of,  12. 

Renan  on  religion,  12. 

Roberts,  Dr.  Alexander,  Version 
1881,  210. 

Roscoe,  William,  description  of  the 
consecration  of  Pope  Alex- 
ander VI.,  134, 

Ryan,  Bishop,  installed,  31,  163. 

S. 

Sabbath  observed  1100  years  before 
the  Hebrews  existed,  113. 

Sacrifices,  human,  beasts,  397,  398. 

Samson  story  and  the  twelve  la- 
bors of  Hercules;  the 
foxes,  160,  161. 

Sethi  II.,  Egyptian  king,  his  good 
old  age,  96. 

Shedd,  Prof.,  admission,  409. 

Smith,  Dr.  Robertson,  on  the  Gos- 
pels, 215. 
on  sacrifice,  398,  etc. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  on  infinite  and 
eternal  energy,  423. 

St.  Patrick  and  the  snakes,  128. 

Stanley  on  blood-friendship,  389. 

Stuart,  Moses,  on  the  "  indefinite- 
period"  theory,  175. 

T. 

Tacitus,  Annah  of,  forged,  206. 
Talmage  on  blood,  377. 
Talmud,  Babylonian,  22. 

"  wilderness  of  speculations," 

196. 
Taylor,  Jeremy,  on  blood,  377. 
Tertullian,  fanatical  expression  of, 

273. 
"  Testimony,"  hint  as  to  the  origin 

of  the  word,  132. 
Theodosius,      Emperor,       ordered 

books  burned,  244,  294. 


INDEX. 


441 


Toldoth  Jeshu,  265. 

Trumbull  on  blood  covenant,  382- 

389. 
Tyndall  on  religion,  11. 

U. 

Ussher,  Archbishop,  his  chronol- 
ogy, 95. 

V. 

Vedio  prophecies,  194. 
Virgin-born  gods,  369,  371. 
Yon  Martins,  conversion  of,  183. 

W. 

Wake,  C.  Staniland,  on  Pentateuch, 
101. 


Whately,  Archbishop,  converted  by 
Sir  John  Lubbock  and 
Taylor,  183. 

White,  Andrew  D.,  shows  how  sci- 
ence contradicts  theology, 
183. 

Winchell,  Dr.  Alexander,  and  the 
Methodists,  184. 

Witches  executed,  modem  exam- 
ples, 118. 

z. 

Zodiac,  140,  141. 

age  estimated,  143. 
Zoroaster  prophesied   of  virgins, 
194. 


THE  END, 


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THE  BIBLE-WHENCE  AND  WHAT? 

BY  BIOHABD  B.  ■WESTBBOOK,  D.D.,  LL.B. 

One  Tolame.    Cloth.    Frice,  $1.00. 

PUBLISHED  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCCfTT  COMPANY, 

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CONTENTS. 

I.— Foundation  of  the  "  Authorized  "  Yersion  of  the  Neir  Testa* 

ment. 
II.— The  New  Version  Basis  (1881). 
III. — Canonicity  of  the  Scriptures. 
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T.— Miracle,  Prophecy,  Martyrdom,  and  Church  Infallibility. 
VI.— Internal  Evidence. 
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IX.— Probable  Origin  of  Certain  Dogmas  found  in  all  Rellgionti. 
X. — Is  the  Bible  strictly  Historical,  or  mainly  Allegorical  I 
XI. — Were  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures  written  Before 

or  After  the  Pagan  Bibles} 
XII.— The  Summing-up. 
XIII.— Interlocutory. 

Extracts  from  Notices  of  the  Press. 

"  This  is  the  latest  of  critical  worlcs  on  the  much-discussed  topic  of  the 
Bible ;  and,  coming  from  the  pen  of  one  whose  titles  indicate  both  the 
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ing the  book,  for  we  find  it  replete  with  learning  from  hundreds  of  sources, 
entertaining  in  style,  strong  in  logic,  and  a  remarkable  specimen  of  the 
condensation  into  a  little  of  an  amount  of  research  that  implies  years  of 
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surprised  to  find  in  this  volume  a  searching  and  broad  inquiry  into  the 
authenticity  of  the  authorized  version  itself.  The  method  of  the  writer  in 
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elements  and  roots  of  religion  as  far  back  as  we  can  trace  the  history  of 
man.'  The  historical  method  is  employed  with  no  irreverent  spirit  by  Dr. 
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other  religions.  .  .  .  The  work  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  history  of 
the  Bihlc."—£oston  Post. 

"  It  is  a  condensed  presentation  of  views  with  regard  to  the  origin  of  the 
Bible,  its  teachings,  and  its  claims  to  a  supernatural  character,  presented 
from  a  rationalistic  standpoint.  Its  style  is  particularly  direct  and  forci- 
ble, and  its  general  arrangement  is  excellent.  There  is  the  fruit  of  much 
reading,  study,  and  thought  in  its  pages  ;  it  is  thoroughly  independent  in 
its  tone,  and  as  an  epitome  of  the  views  which  its  author  holds  is  much  to 
be  commended  for  its  compact  and  clear  method." — Boston  Saturday  Even- 
ing Gazette. 


Advertisement. 

MAN-WHENCE  AND  Mimi 

BY   R.   B.   WESTBROOK,  D.D.,  LL.B. 
One  Volume.    Clotli.    Price,  $i.oo. 

PUBLISHED  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY, 

Nos.715  and  717  Market  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  PRESS  NOTICES. 

"  It  is  easy  enough  to  see  why  Dr.  Westbrook  finds  that  he  can 
better  say  his  say  '  outside  of  the  church  and  the  conventional 
ministry."  He  is  a  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  and  he  looks 
upon  the  Old  Testament  without  the  spectacles  with  which  theolo- 
gians have  been  in  the  habit  of  covering  their  eyes.  He  declares 
that  as  '  threescore  thousand  pulpiteers  in  these  United  States' 
and  '  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  Sunday-schools'  teach 
'  hundreds  of  thousands  of  credulous  and  confiding  children'  the 
biblical  account  of  the  creation  of  man  and  his  fall  to  be  abso- 
lutely true,  the  theologians  themselves  are  responsible  for  the 
'  increasing  materialism  and  scepticism  of  the  day.'  His  examina- 
tion of  the  biblical  stories  is  conducted  in  the  interest  of  truth, 
but,  by  the  very  nature  of  it,  is  IngersoUian.  When  he  reaches 
the  discussion  of  essentials  he  is  reverent  and  truly  religious.  He 
is  not  destructive  without  giving  some  equivalent,  and  his  prog- 
nostication of  what  men  in  the  future  will  believe  is  in  many 
minds  already  accomplishing." — The  Press,  Philadelphia. 

"  This  work  comprises  a  series  of  essays  recently  delivered  in 
a  course  of  free  lectures  in  the  Hall  of  the  Philadelphia  City  Insti- 
tute to  large  audiences.  It  may  be  termed  a  technical  book  without 
technical  phrases.  To  those  fond  of  such  subjects  of  discussion, 
the  present  work  will  be  found  interesting,  and  the  author  will 
gain  credit  for  originality  and  ingenuity." — Chronicle-Herald, 
Philadelphia. 

"  Dr.  Westbrook  does  not  pretend  to  be  an  original  investigator 
either  in  science  or  philosophy,  but  on  the  many  questions  con- 
nected with  that  debatable  land  which  borders  on  science  and 
religion  he  has  evidently  studied  much ;  and  there  is  evidence  in 
the  pages  of  the  little  book  now  before  us  that  he  has  made  him- 
self familiar  with  the  leading  speculations  on  both  sides  of  the 
general  controversy.  Dr.  Westbrook  is  a  clear-headed,  unpreju- 
diced lover  of  the  truth,  neither  afraid  to  know  nor  afraid  to  speak ; 
and  he  has  the  twofold  faculty  of  seeing  clearly  and  of  expressing 
himself  in  lucid  and  intelligible  language." — New  York  Herald. 


Advertisement. 

"  He  takes  a  bold  stand  against  things  taught  by  rigid  preachers 
and  teachers  ;  objects  to  the  literal  interpretation  of  many  passages 
of  bcripture  Hnd  to  certain  dogmas,  such  as  eternal  punishment 
of  the  wicked  by  fire  and  torture.  ...  All  this  and  more  he 
does  without  disparaging  the  character  and  example  of  Christ. 
,  .  .  The  book  is  carefully  written,  and  shows  extensive  study 
of  the  writings  of  eminent  men  in  all  ages." — Evening  Bulletin, 
Philadelphia. 

"The  doctrines  of  Dr.  Westbrook's  book  on  '  Man — Whence 
and  Whither?'  are  substantially  those  of  the  Free  Religious  Asso- 
ciation. .  .  .  He  writes  intelligently,  rationally,  independently  ; 
thinking  for  himself,  and  saying  what  he  thinks  without  regard 
to  accepted  beliefs  or  conventional  forms." — Literary  World. 

"  The  author  is  an  independent  investigator,  relying  upon 
reason  to  test  the  discoveries  of  his  researches,  but  is  directed  by 
the  pure  spirit  of  a  seeker  after  truth.  He  has  broad  culture  to 
draw  upon  for  facts  and  principles,  skill  in  applying  them,  and 
logical  acuteness  in  drawing  his  deductions.  While  during  his 
investigation  there  are  points  established  which  at  first  may  pro- 
voke opposition,  as  his  rejection  of  certain  accepted  beliefs  re- 
garding the  book  of  Genesis,  and  his  criticisms  of  theism  and  of 
prevailing  religions,  etc.,  the  results  of  his  inquiries  testify  to  as 
deep  a  religious  nature  and  as  high  a  spiritual  aspiration  as  are 
attained  in  the  prescribed  ways  c.f  the  sects.  The  book  presents 
its  themes  in  an  original  and  interesting  way,  and  should  be  read." 
— Boston  Globe. 

"  Richard  B.  Westbrook,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  a  strong  and 
independent  thinker,  and  the  author  of  several  books  which  the 
more  rigid  denounce  as  unorthodox,  has  added  to  his  list  of  pub- 
lications a  volume  entitled  '  Man — Whence  and  Whither?'  in 
which  he  takes  a  stand  against  a  literal  translation  of  many 
passages  of  scripture,  and  to  certain  dogmas,  such  as  eternal 
punishment  of  the  wicked  by  fire  and  torture ;  criticises  the  insin- 
cerity of  many  preachers ;  accepts  the  fundamental  ideas  of  Darwin 
and  other  modern  men  of  science,  and  discusses  theism,  atheism, 
and  agfnosticism  with  unqualified  boldness." — Boston  Transcript. 

"  It  contains  much  valuable  information,  very  sharply  put,  and 
is,  to  say  the  least,  like  a  sign-post  which  will  point  out  the  direc- 
tion of  truth,  even  if  it  does  not  go  after  it  and  overtake  it." — 
Eveni7ig  yournal,  Chicago. 

"  The  chapters  handle  in  a  thoroughly  consistent,  thoughtful, 
attractive,  yet  reverent  manner,  inquiries  suggested  by  the  '  intense 
mental  curiosity'  of  the  age  as  to  the  nature,  constitution,  personal 
identity,  etc.,  of  man,  and  briefly  analyze — freeing  them  from 
professional  technicalities  of  expression  and  illustration — processes 
of  evolution  connected  with  the  vast  considerations, '  whence'  came 
and  'whither'  tend  the  existing  races  of  men." — ■Ale7v  Orleans  Times. 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


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